


Blast from the Past 2: Trapline

by louisethatcher5



Series: Blast from the Past [3]
Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Drama, Family Drama, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-16 21:54:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 23
Words: 41,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29214477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/louisethatcher5/pseuds/louisethatcher5
Summary: Book 2/5 of the Blast from the Past series.It's been exactly one month since it happened. The Bounty was quiet without Cole but Jay couldn't get over what had happened that day. With a miraculous recovery, Jay fears that everyone has turned against him for putting Ninjago in danger. Things start to get rough and Jay feels like the only way to end his suffering is to get away from it all. He visits the police station and tells them something that will change Jay's life forever. A very specific diver recovers the Teapot of Tyrahn but by the time Jay puts everything right, it's too late...(Written in Dec 2019 - March 2020)
Relationships: Nya/Jay Walker
Series: Blast from the Past [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2157759
Kudos: 2





	1. I survived

_"An allergy to the elemental power Lightning and she has to stay away from anybody with that power otherwise it could make her worse and possibly lead to death!" Cole blurted out._

_"What?!" Jay jumped up._

_"That was my reaction!! Jay, she's risking her life to make you happy!" Cole told him._

_"She shouldn't be doing that. I need to speak with her right now."_

Jay was sat alone in his bedroom, on his bed, just silently sitting there. He had nothing to talk about especially with the rest of the team. In fact, Jay hadn't spoken much in the past few days. He had only recently arrived home from the hospital and had not yet gotten back to his normal self like everyone else had.

_"Well, I'm sure they'll come for you. I hope they do." Nadakhan spoke. Jay frowned._

_"Wait, you do?" Jay asked._

_"Yeah. It just means I can capture you all." Nadakhan laughed._

_"Of course." Jay rolled his eyes. "So, what's up first? A good old game of Scrap 'n' tap or are we just gonna get into the torturing stage?"_

_"You seem excited about this." Nadakhan pointed out._

_"It's happened before, why not again?" Jay asked._

The lightning ninja was mad at his teammates for letting everything go so easily. Jay had gone through the most and now he had to act like nothing ever happened. Ever since the events of that day, he felt incomplete but that was only because there were only five members of the team now.

_Jay turned around to see the one and only superstars house, Cliff Gordon's mansion._

_Jay turned back to look at Nadakhan, who was still smiling widely._

_"You were being serious?" Jay's eyes were wide._

_Nadakhan nodded. "I wasn't joking. He's your birth father. Jay, you're adopted." Nadakhan replied._

No matter how hard he tried, those memories still haunted him. Usually, when he was alone, he'd cry it out but today he didn't feel like it because today was the one month anniversary of...

_Cole's chest laid still, no flicker of life, a surefire sign that he was dead. The impact of his limp, lifeless body was synced with the wails of his younger brother, who was still holding tight onto his blood-stained ninja gi. Jay was desperate to find any signs of life still in his best friend's body but was instead met with the cold silence of his frozen heart. Jay's brother was gone, stolen from him._

...Cole's death.

Jay reached over to his bedside table and picked up a photo that was neatly laid there. A tear fell down his cheek as he looked down at it.

"No matter what I say and what I do, there is not a single moment when I don't think of you." Jay cried. "I close my eyes and see you but when I open my eyes and see nothing there, I realise how much I miss you."

It was also a month ago when Jay's life was saved. After the events with Nadakhan, Clouse and Ben, Jay had pretty died but the ninja team managed to get him to Ninjago Hospital just in time to save him. They brought him back to life and treated his wounds. It still hurt but a lot less than it did before. Jay was lucky but Cole couldn't be saved.

Jay put the picture in the nearest draw and dried his tears. He got up off of his bed and looked in the mirror. All he saw was a pile of junk. Someone who should've been gone, just like his brother.

_"I found out a few days ago but Cliff didn't want you to know. You already knew about having a brother so why not tell you, you know?" Cole tried to lighten the mood but Jay just fell silent. He sat there thinking and reading over the paper again._

_Cole noticed that Jay was not acting normal. He thought he would be happy to find out they were brothers. They were already so close, now they could be closer. But Jay was not himself. Instead, he looked disappointed._

Tears flooded from his eyes for he knew the truth. He knew exactly why Ben would do something like this...

_"I was only pretending to be your best friend because I felt bad for you! Nobody really likes you Jay. Especially your parents. They never wanted you. That's why they let you become a ninja, so they could get rid of you for as long as possible! My parents care about me because at least I have one of my birth parents with me. They didn't give me away unlike yours!" Cole blurted out._

He hated feeling like this. Everything he didn't want to happen, happened and it was too late to change that; way too late. Cole had gone undercover, he knew that he would never say those sorts of things especially to Jay but the rest of the team... they lost all hope in Cole straight away even though he hurt Jay the most. Brothers don't give up on each other.

Jay wiped away his tears and took a deep breath.

"Maybe things will be different now," Jay told himself.

He slowly opened the bedroom door and peered down the corridor. It was around 9 pm, he knew that not everyone was asleep. The only light that was clearly on was the living room light. He could just about hear the faint sound of the TV.

He wandered down the corridor, his blue hoodie on, his hands in his pockets and took a deep breath before heading into the living room. He peered over at the sofa, where Kai was sat. The fire ninja had heard him come and turned his head towards the door.

"Hey. How are you?" Kai asked softly, knowing that Jay was going through a rough time.

Jay shrugged his shoulders and headed over towards the kitchen.

"There's some cake in the cupboard if you want the last slice," Kai told him.

Jay stopped in the middle of the kitchen and sighed.

"Right, sorry. Forget I said that." Kai panicked slightly.

Jay opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water out. He stood at the kitchen counter and drank some of the cold liquid. It tickled his throat but it was refreshing.

Jay looked over at the TV to see that Kai had been watching the news.

"The funeral for the master of earth was carried out less than a week ago and Jay is now at home from leaving the hospital recently. After a miraculous recovery, he is--" The reporter continued to talk.

"You're still watching that rubbish?" Jay spoke quietly.

Kai frowned and turned to his friend. "I thought you liked hearing about the doctors bringing you back to life."

"I'm starting to think it would have been better to leave me on that stupid island," Jay replied.

"There is no way we would have done that," Kai stated.

"Then you should've saved Cole."

"You know we tried to but there was no way of saving him," Kai argued.

Jay sighed. "Look, I am grateful, I just wish Cole was here."

"Me too. We all miss him." Kai gave him a reassuring smile.

Kai picked up the remote control and switched to the movies channel.

"Hey, look! It's Star Farer! Wanna come and watch it with me?" Kai asked with a smile.

Jay broke eye contact. "I dunno."

"Come on, it's your dad!" Kai begged.

Jay shrugged his shoulders.

At that moment, Nya walked into the room and spotted Kai.

"Are you talking to yourself again Kai?" Nya raised an eyebrow.

Kai looked over at Jay, also catching Nya's attention. Jay didn't even notice that she had walked in due to him being lost in thought.

"Hey! You're... here!" Nya smiled and hugged him.

Jay winced in pain slightly. "Please be careful. It still hurts."

Nya stepped back a little. "Sorry, I--"

"It's okay, don't worry about it." Jay gave her a fake smile.

There was a moment of silence. Well except for Fritz Donagon's famous line "Fear isn't a word where I come from!" in the background.

"How are you feeling?" Nya asked.

Kai had returned to watching TV, staying out of their conversation.

Jay shrugged his shoulders again.

"You haven't come out of your room lately. Is everything okay?" Nya wondered.

"It's just...difficult. I'm still trying to process everything that happened. Not to mention all the memories that come back to haunt me..." Jay sighed.

"Don't worry, things are gonna be different now, okay? It's going to get better. With Clouse gone, Nadakhan having no way back and Ben locked up, they can't hurt you anymore." Nya explained.

"But what about Cole? Don't you remember that I saw him die? Like right in front of me?" Jay asked her.

Nya sighed. "I was hoping you wouldn't mention that. Although I knew you wouldn't be able to forget about it. Look, just know that I'm here for you no matter what, okay?"

Jay nodded.

"If you want anyone to talk to, always come to me first. I'm here to help." Nya gave a friendly smile.

"Thanks, Nya." Jay smiled back.

"Hey, why don't you go get some sleep?" She suggested.

"Yeah, I probably should. I might have a chance of getting some sleep tonight now that I'm feeling a little better." Jay told her.

"Haven't slept much, huh?" Nya spoke.

Jay shook his head.

"I wanna start getting things back to normal, you know?" Jay told her.

Nya nodded. "Yeah, me too. Hey here's an idea, what if I take you shopping in the city tomorrow? You know, just for a few hours?"

Jay thought for a second.

"Sure. I'd like that." Jay smiled.

"Great." She kissed him on the cheek gently. "Now go get some sleep, okay? But if you need me at any point during the night, come to me no matter what."

Jay nodded and went back to his bedroom with his bottle of water.

Kai turned to Nya. He looked a little uneasy.

"I don't think that's a very good idea." He told her.

"Oh, so you were listening to our conversation then?" Nya crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

"Haven't you seen the comments?" Kai asked.

"What comments?" She questioned as she sat beside Kai in the living room.

"People saw online about Jay's 'miraculous recovery' and they haven't exactly been nice about it," Kai explained.

"What?! What sorts of things have they been saying?" She frowned.

"Look for yourself." Kai showed her what was on his phone screen.

Nya scanned over it. "'Why did they bring him back? He's the one who put Ninjago in danger in the first place.' 'He's a monster.'" She gasped. "Why would they say these sorts of things?!"

Kai shrugged his shoulders. "They should be seeing him as the hero. He saved Ninjago."

"We cannot tell him about this. It'll make him feel worse and you know how he feels at the moment." Nya told him.

"Nya, it's all over the internet, he's probably already seen it," Kai replied.

"Whether he has or not, we cannot bring it up," Nya warned him.

"Yeah, yeah, I got that."

"Tomorrow, I am going to take him into the city to go shopping and if people don't like that, well screw them. Jay lives here too. And he's going to enjoy himself, I'm going to make sure of it." Nya sounded mad.

"Good. He needs a day out. And a break." Kai told her.

Nya nodded in agreement. "He's going to get through it. I just know he will."


	2. My friends, the voices

_"Listen to me, pathetic blue ninja," Cole began in a harsh tone, "If you tell anyone that it was me who said all those things to you, you can say goodbye to everyone here. You don't belong here, Jay, Sensei should have never helped you escape. You would have been better locked up and tortured, where no one here could get hurt."_

_"I'm glad you're stuck here because the past week has been so peaceful! None of us have missed you!" Cole shouted._

_"I really hope that Nadakhan comes to get you because I'm going home and I don't want to see you ever again." Cole stormed out._

_"DON'T LIE TO ME! I AM SICK OF PEOPLE LYING TO ME!" Jay yelled, pushing her away._

Jay's eyes opened in shock. His breathing was heavy and his forehead was covered in sweat. He lifted his head and looked around his bedroom. It was dark, really dark. He was able to see the red letters on his alarm clock, that read 2:33. He sighed and rested his head back down on the pillow.

He constantly told himself that Cole never meant anything that he said but there was a part of him that didn't believe that. Cole acted like he was sure. He acted like he loved being able to Jay how he finally felt.

And the worst thing was, Jay believed it all even if he knew Cole would never treat anyone like that.

Jay wanted to go back to sleep but instead, he just laid there doing nothing. There were no thoughts in his head. He just stared into the darkness blankly. Jay lifted his hand and touched his cheek, not even realising that he was crying. Maybe he was just so used to it that he doesn't even feel it anymore.

_"I shouldn't be a ninja. I shouldn't even be here!" Jay shouted._

People may change but memories don't.

_"No, Nya, it was. All of it. I'm annoying. I'm probably the most annoying person in all of Ninjago." Jay argued._

"Leave me alone!!!" Jay screamed, more tears falling from his eyes.

"How can we leave you in this tough time if you were the one who created us? We're here to help you." The voice in his head replied coldly.

"No, you aren't! You aren't helping me!" Jay shouted.

"You know we're right Jay." It stated.

"No! Leave me alone! Stay away!!!" Jay screamed, his throat becoming sore.

"Nobody likes you. You're a joke." It snapped.

"I-I am a joke! Everybody hates me!" Jay yelled.

"That's it. We're right, Jay. Listen to us... nobody wants to help you..." It continued.

"Stop!" Jay cried, holding his stomach.

Jay's eyes closed tight.

"You're weak... pathetic... lousy..." It stated.

"Stop it! Leave me alone!" Jay screamed.

"Waste of space... joke... ugly... obsessive..."

"Stop!!!!" Jay continued to scream at the top of his lungs.

"Stupid... insecure... insane... dishonest... greedy..."

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!" Jay shouted.

"Fearful... scared... dull... gullible... distractible..."

"STOP!!!!" Jay cried.

The feeling of a cold hand touching Jay's shoulder made his eyes shoot open. Jay's breathing was worse than before. He was shaking violently. His cheeks, pillow and sheets were covered in tears.

"Hey, hey, hey, it's okay." The person spoke softly.

Jay turned his head slightly to see Nya, the only person he ever wanted to see.

"I can't do this anymore Nya." Jay cried. "It hurts."

"Sshhhhhh... it's okay. You can do this. You can get through it, okay?" She told him, gently taking hold of his hand as he sat up, tears still forming.

Nya pulled him into a hug. Jay closed his eyes and rested his head on Nya's shoulder.

"It was horrible. They were saying things and I--" He began.

"Who were telling you things?" Nya frowned.

"The voices. They always tell me how I don't belong here and how everyone hates me and how I'd be better off dead and--" he snivelled.

Nya's eyebrows creased with worry. She had never seen Jay so scared.

"And they're wrong." She stated calmly. "Did you have another nightmare?"

Jay nodded slowly.

"Did you wanna talk about it?" She asked.

Jay took a deep breath, his breathing still not back to normal, and looked her in the eye. "It was about everything that Cole had told me. And then when you were trying to help me and... and how I believed it."

Nya wiped away Jay's tears before more could form.

"Things are going to get better, I promise." She told him. "Everything that happened... it won't be easy to forget but I know you can do it. You just gotta trust me, okay?"

Jay nodded.

"Try and get some sleep," Nya told him.

He shook his head. "I can't. I can't do it. What if the voices come back? Or I have another nightmare? Or--" He began to panic.

"I'll stay here, right next to you, okay?" Nya reassured him.

"You'd leave me just like how everyone else does." Jay sighed.

"No, I wouldn't. I will make sure nothing happens to you and if you have another nightmare, I'll be here to stop it." She replied.

Jay nodded.

Nya sat down beside the bed and watched as Jay snuggled back under the covers.

"Thank you Nya." He stated. "For everything."

Nya smiled at him before he closed his eyes. She made sure that he was fast asleep before going back to sleep herself, curled up by the bed, her head rested on the bed itself.

A few hours later, Jay awoke again and raised his head. He peered around the room, light peaking through the curtains. He then looked down and spotted his beautiful girlfriend sleeping peacefully. He smiled slightly and gently tried to get out of bed. She stirred slightly but went back to sleep. He tiptoed out of the room and to the bathroom. He closed the door behind him and looked in the mirror above the sink.

"Who even am I anymore?" He asked himself, frowning.

He then looked down and lifted the sleeve up his arm so he could see at least half of his arm. He winced in pain slightly as the sleeve raised, brushing against his own damage.

There, right in front of him, were cut marks. Some of them were old ones from days ago, some of them fresh from the previous day. They were different sizes and the deepness differed too. Jay felt bad. He could never tell anyone what he was doing to himself. They'd hate him more.

There was a knock at the bathroom, startling Jay.

"Jay? Is that you?" Lloyd's voice spoke from the other side.

Jay gasped slightly and quickly covered his arm back up with his sleeve.

"Give me a sec!" Jay called out before washing his face with water from the sink to hide his tears.

Jay took a deep breath and opened the door, smiling at his green friend.

"Everything okay?" He asked.

"Yep," Jay replied. Lloyd entered the bathroom and closed the door behind him as Jay re-entered his bedroom and looked over at Nya, who was beginning to wake up. She rubbed her eyes and spotted Jay.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" She asked him.

"Better." He replied with a smile.

"Are you sure?" She asked. "No more nightmares?"

Jay shook his head. "None."

Nya got up and grabbed his arm, pulling him into a hug.

Jay winced in pain but managed to cover it up. Nya frowned and looked him in the eye.

"Everything okay?" She asked.

Jay nodded. "Never felt better."

Jay was able to cover up it up pretty well but deep down... he was hurt. The pain from his arm connected with the pain from his memories, which made it hurt more than it should've but one thing that Jay was good at was when he wanted to, he could easily hide his feelings.

Jay walked over to his vanity, taking his eyes off of Nya for a minute. She glanced down at his arm and frowned. Jay gently caressed the spot where Nya had touched for a few seconds before opening one of the drawers.

 _I'm sure he's fine..._ She thought.


	3. Concern

"Jay Walker, am I right?" The therapist asked.

Ever since Jay was sent home from the hospital, Nya booked him in to see a therapist once a week. She knew that something was up no matter how many times Jay had said he was okay and didn't need help. He acted differently at the hospital, almost insane, but nobody made anything of it.

Nya had called up to see if Jay could come in early instead of going into the city due to his nightmare the previous night. Today was Jay's first day. He was nervous but somehow, he knew that he could trust this therapist with his secrets.

Jay nodded.

"Okay..." She wrote something down on her clipboard before looking up at him and smiling. "I'm Jessie and I will be your therapist for however long these sessions shall go on for."

Jay smiled back, hiding his already covered arms under the table.

"First of all, why don't we get to know each other?" She asked.

"Um... okay," Jay replied shyly.

"So I can tell you are shy." She pointed out.

"Oh, I'm not usually like this. It's just... something happened recently and I'm not really myself at the moment." Jay explained.

"Well, hopefully, we can fix that," Jessie told him.

Jay nodded slightly.

"I'm normally a bit of a chatterbox so I guess you caught me at the right time." Jay joked.

Jessie smiled again.

_She's so nice... I feel like I could tell her anything._

"What does the real you like to do then?" She wondered.

"Well... talkative. I'm pretty excitable and happy. I like playing video games and I do some inventing from time to time." Jay told her.

"Wow! That sounds like fun!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah, it is. But it kinda depends on the mood I'm in. Most of my inventions completely flop though." He replied.

Jay was lucky. He had the perfect therapist. She was happy and a great listener, the sort of person that you could rant to and she'd just sit there and listen to you go on and on and on, which is what Jay loved to do.

"Is that something you love to do?" She wondered.

"Of course! I grew up in a junkyard so it was normal for me when I was growing up." Jay said.

"A junkyard? That's cool!" She acted surprised.

"Really? Sorry, I'm just not used to that. Most people would make fun of me for growing up in a junkyard." Jay smiled.

"Where were you born?" She asked.

"Hospital I think... then I was adopted like the day after and-- It's a long story," Jay replied.

"Sounds like it." Jessie agreed.

"It's just so confusing at home now. It's like the only emotion I know how to feel is... I dunno... darkness? If that's even a real thing..." Jay fell quiet.

"What makes you feel like that?" Jessie wondered.

"My thoughts," Jay said instantly.

"Do you mind telling me what your thoughts about?" She asked nicely.

Jay took a deep breath. "It's the fact that I... I always constantly think that people hate me, even my friends and my girlfriend. No matter how much I try to tell myself that they are all here for me and will always care and protect me, I still don't believe it."

"Why don't you tell your friends? Maybe they can help you." She suggested.

"Because they'd never believe me. I'm the comic relief, the ray of sunshine. I appreciate that they're trying to help me feel better lately but it's just making things worse. Anyway, why did we start talking about such a boring subject? It only involves me getting serious and believe me, I don't get serious." Jay fake smiled.

"Is everything okay Jay?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Forget everything I just said, it's just me being weird as usual 'cause I'm the weird one around here. I'm the one that nobody cares about because I'm never serious and that's the only reason why people have me around but when I try to take something seriously, everyone laughs." Jay joked.

"You don't sound okay. What's wrong?" Jessie frowned.

"You don't need to check up on me, I'm just peachy! You can always rely on me to be happy! So happy, ecstatic, practically jumping up and down with joy. Even if I was gonna jump in front of a train, I'd do it whilst cracking a joke because that's what I do! See, there's nothing wrong with me, I'm completely fine!" Jay began to rant.

Jessie fell quiet.

"I appreciate that your job is to make people better but there's nothing wrong with me," Jay told her. "I know the truth so it doesn't matter. I know how my friends really feel about me and I know how everyone feels about me! You don't have to pretend like you care about how I feel because I can see right through it."

"Just take a deep breath, Jay." Jessie cut in and handed him a bottle of water. "Here, drink some cold water, it'll make you feel better."

Jay nodded and took the water. He drank some and sighed.

"Sorry... I'm just not in the right frame of mind at the moment." Jay told her.

"I'm glad that Nya decided to get you in today instead of on Friday." She stated.

"Yeah, she's taking me into the city to go shopping on Friday now, I'm excited about that." Jay smiled.

"Is there anything that has happened lately that could specifically make you feel down and upset? Well other than what I saw on the news about you and--" Jessie began.

"Yeah there was something actually... um... my brother he passed away." Jay broke eye contact.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Jessie replied.

"I...uh... watched him pass too... it wasn't fun..." Jay became quiet.

"So do you think that may have been what caused it?" She wondered.

Jay stared at his hands. "Y-yeah... s-something like that."

_Except for everything that he told me as well. But that was my idiotic self who believed it all._

"I know what can help!" She exclaimed.

Jay looked up.

She handed him a notebook. "Take this and whenever you feel down, write notes or something in it. Maybe it can help you to see when you are usually feeling like that and when you aren't. And you could spot what you are happiest doing."

"You think it will work?" Jay wondered.

She nodded. "I think so."

Jay smiled. "Thanks." When he went to reach for it, he accidentally hit his arm on the edge of the table and screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Oh my gosh! Are you okay?" She exclaimed, placing the notebook down on the desk. Jay was holding his arm in agony.

"Yep. I-I'm fine." Jay stuttered.

"You don't seem okay. Let me have a look." She suggested.

"No! No, it's okay! I'm fine!" Jay began to panic.

"It sounded like you hit your arm pretty hard. Just let me have a quick look, please? I'm trained as a nurse too." She assured him.

Jay thought for a minute. _If I show her my arm, she'll find out about my cuts. I can't let that happen._

"Jay, please let me have a look at it. You could have hurt it pretty badly." She told him.

Jay sighed and rolled up his sleeve. He looked at his cuts and then sighed. He raised his arm so Jessie could see.

Jessie leaned forward, her eyes wide. She looked up at Jay, her eyebrows creased with worry.

"Are these cuts?" She asked.

"No! They're just wounds from... battles. I'm a ninja, remember?" Jay lied.

"Jay, please don't lie to me. I need you to tell me the truth. Did you make these cuts?" Jessie repeated.

Jay shook his head. Jessie could see the panic in his eyes. She had seen it before from past patients who had tried to hide it.

"Look, you can tell me, okay? I'm not going to tell anyone unless you want me to or your life is in danger. Just tell me the truth." She said.

Jay took a deep breath and nodded.

"Are the cuts anywhere else?" She wondered but he shook his head.

"Just my arms. I've always worn long sleeves to hide it though." He stated.

"Does anyone know except for me?" She asked.

"No. I couldn't tell anyone. They'd hate me." Jay sighed.

"They'd want to help you. I think for your own safety, I would recommend you tell someone that you trust." Jessie told him.

"But the only person I trust with this sort of thing isn't here." Jay snapped. "Sorry, it's just... hard."

"I understand. But Jay, you could seriously harm yourself if you carry on self-harming." Jessie replied.

"This isn't self-harming! It's just a few cuts! It doesn't matter!" He exclaimed.

"Jay..." She sighed. "Self-harm is when you hurt yourself as a way of dealing with difficult feelings, painful memories or overwhelming situations and experiences."

"It's not self-harming!" Jay shouted.

"Did you make these cuts or did someone else?" She wondered.

Jay paused.

"I did."

Jessie sighed. "The best way to stop is to find something to distract you, like a stress ball."

"I don't need a stress ball! I'm fine!!" Jay exclaimed.

"Jay, you could seriously injure yourself! I can't let you continue." She stated.

"But what I do is none of your business! I don't need help, okay?!" Jay got up and stormed out of the room. 


	4. Can you keep a secret?

Zane exited the shared bedroom, closing the door behind him and wandered down the corridor towards the bathroom. He turned the knob but the door didn't open, assuming it had been locked.

"Hello? Anyone in there?" Zane spoke.

A door behind the nindroid opened. It was the game room.

"It's Jay. He's been in there for like five minutes." Kai stated.

Zane frowned as he returned to look at the door. "Jay?"

"I'm busy." A voice called from inside the room.

"Is everything okay?" Zane asked.

"Yes. Everything is fine. Give me a minute." He replied.

"We've given you five already," Kai mumbled and closed the door to the game room.

Within a few seconds, the door opened revealing Jay stood there with a bright smile on his face.

"I was just in the shower." He told his friend.

"Oh. But your hair does not look wet." Zane pointed out.

Jay's eyes widened as he quickly felt the top of his head. "Ah right, well I dried it. With a towel."

"What towel?" Zane raised an eyebrow.

Jay's head darted back into the room. His left arm reached to the side, out of sight, and he grabbed a towel that was on the towel rack.

"Here it is." He smiled.

Zane smiled back. "Okay."

For the next few moments, they just stood there awkwardly.

"So..."

"Jay?" Zane raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, right you need to you the bathroom." Jay quickly shuffled off to his bedroom, closing the door behind him.

"That was... weird." Zane shook it off as he entered the bathroom. As he turned on the light, he froze. Did he just see what he thought he saw?

Jay threw the towel at his bed as he flopped onto it.

He sighed heavily.

"Someday. Someday they will understand." He stated softly.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, making Jay sit up almost instantly.

"Who is it?" He asked.

The door opened slightly, Zane's head poking out from the side.

"Is everything okay?" He frowned.

"Yeah, why wouldn't it be?" Jay questioned.

"It's just that I-- I think you need to come see this." He said.

Jay frowned as he got up off of his comfy bed. He followed Zane back to the bathroom.

Zane pointed towards the red stain on the floor.

"Is that... blood?" Zane wondered, looking at Jay was a concerned look.

Jay opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out.

"Jay?"

"No. T-That was there when I came in earlier." He said worryingly.

"Then why didn't you clean it up?" Zane raised an eyebrow.

"Because you rushed me! I forgot about it, okay?!" Jay snapped.

"Jay, you're acting... weird," Zane stated with a frown.

"Gee, Zane, thanks a lot." Jay began heading back down the hallway to his bedroom.

"Jay--" Zane chased after him.

"No, forget it." Jay huffed as he tried to slam his bedroom door shut but Zane put his foot in the way.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have--" Zane grabbed Jay's arm so he would listen but Jay quickly moved his arm away.

"OW!" He shouted in pain. He gently rubbed his arm, wincing in pain slightly.

Zane stopped on the spot, a confused expression upon his face.

"Jay? Did I hurt you?" Zane asked.

"N-no. I-I'm fine." He lied.

Zane took Jay's arm and rolled up the sleeve, gasping in shock.

Jay rushed to the door and slammed it closed. He looked Zane in the eye. "You can't tell anyone about what you just saw."

"Are they--?" Zane began.

"Cuts? Yes, now shut your mouth before I call Sensei on you for harassment." Jay snapped.

"Harassment? That was hardly harassment. I was trying to apologise." Zane argued.

"Oh so apologising is grabbing my arm, huh?" Jay raised an eyebrow.

Zane shook his head. "Stop trying to change the subject, Jay. What's that?!" He pointed at his now-exposed arm.

Jay looked down at it and back at Zane. "Nothing."

"If something was going on, you should have told us. We can help, you know?" Zane told him.

"But that's the thing, Zane, you wouldn't help me. Nobody understands how I feel. Nobody will ever understand how I feel. You can't help me, Zane. You can't change my thoughts. It's impossible." Jay explained.

"It's not impossible. We could have made you feel better and we could have fixed whatever was making you feel sad." Zane suggested.

"Okay... one, it isn't sad Zane, it's much worse than feeling sad. And two, you can't exactly bring Cole back, can you?!" Jay shouted.

Zane frowned. "This is about Cole?"

"Well, what else would it be about?! I mean, I have the perfect life that anyone could ever wish for, right? Any normal person would think I'm being selfish because I am!" Jay exclaimed.

"You aren't being selfish Jay. And nobody's life can be perfect. After everything that happened with Nadakhan and Clouse and Ben--" Zane began.

"We don't speak of his name." Jay murmured.

Zane sighed. "You've been extremely brave. Nobody could think that you're being selfish and if they did, they're wrong."

"That's easy for you to say." Jay sighed.

"Look, Jay, we're all here for you, okay? We're your family, we will never leave your side. Which is why, if we tell the others--" He started.

"Woah, Woah, Woah." Jay cut in. "The others don't need to know."

"You need help, Jay," Zane stated softly.

"What is with this stuff about me needing help?! I got enough of that from Jessie." Jay rolled his eyes.

"Your therapist knows too?" Zane frowned.

"Of course. She forced me to tell her." He told him.

Zane headed towards the door, turning his back on Jay. As he was about to turn the nob to leave, Jay grabbed his arm.

"Please, Zane, you don't understand. If anyone finds out, they'll all hate me for it. And Nya... she'll break up with me. I can't lose her, not now. They'd treat me differently. Sensei Wu will stop me from going on missions. I'm a ninja! I have to protect people!" Jay explained.

"How can you protect others if you cannot even protect yourself?!" Zane shouted.

Jay fell silent, breaking eye contact with the nindroid.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that." He sighed.

"Protecting people is my job, Zane. I need to. I don't know what I would do if I couldn't. It's part of my life now. I can't give that up now." Jay told him calmly.

"I understand that but--"

"I don't need help, Zane."

"You do." Zane folded his arms.

"Then I'll stop." Jay lied. "I'll stop so you won't have to tell anyone."

Zane thought for a minute.

"Please." Jay mouthed.

Zane nodded. "But if I find that you are doing that again, I will tell them and Nya will be the first person I tell."

Jay smiled at him. "Thanks, Zane."

"You better get that blood cleaned up then before anyone else sees it," Zane told him.

Jay nodded.

It was a warm Friday afternoon in Ninjago City. Just like she had promised, Nya took Jay out to go shopping. It was a great chance for him to relax and enjoy himself. Jay hadn't been outside much since the "event" except for Cole's funeral and the session with the therapist. Nya was determined to get the old Jay back, the person that was joyful and humorous. Lately, he had been rather uptight but that was only because of what happened to Cole. The team desperately wanted the Jay they know and love back.

"So where do you want to go first?" Nya wondered, a smile on her face.

She may have seemed happy but she was nervous after what Kai had shown her. The internet was a very unsafe place for Jay at the moment due to all the comments that people were making on the stuff with Nadakhan. It was getting to her. But she had managed to keep him away from being online recently.

Jay shrugged his shoulder. Nya sighed.

"How about we..." She thought for a second. "...check out the comic book store? I'm sure Mother Doomsday would love to see you again."

"I guess its been a while," Jay replied.

"Great!" She exclaimed happily.

The two continued walking down the street, Jay didn't make eye contact with anyone except for Nya.

"They might have a new Star Farer comic," Jay spoke out of the blue.

Nya looked at him with a frown. "I thought you didn't like that movie anymore."

Jay shrugged his shoulders again. "I mean, it's my dad, right? I wanna support him. Plus, Star Farer was my childhood favourite movie and Fritz was my hero. There will always be a part of me that loves that movie."

"Okay." Nya narrowed her eyes in confusion. "I thought you didn't want anything to do with Cliff though. You know, after how he had lied to you."

"Just because I merely dislike him for lying, I still love him. He's my father no matter what. I gotta be there for him." Jay told her.

"I suppose so." She gave him a reassuring smile.

The couple returned to looking straight forward, to where they were walking. Jay looked to his left and instantly stopped, frozen on the spot. There was no expression on his face. He just stared at what was in front of him. Nya went to talk to Jay but realised he wasn't stood beside her anymore. She peered behind her to see her boyfriend a few meters away from her. She sprinted over to him and looked over at what he was looking at.

"You okay?" She asked.

Jay continued staring at the blue building.

"That's the police station." Nya pointed out.

"That's where Ben is right now..." Jay muttered.

Nya placed a hand on his shoulder. "He's locked up. There's no way that he can hurt you now, Jay. He's where he deserves to be now."

Jay nodded slowly. "Yeah..."

"Come on, let's go. Forget about Ben. He's no longer a threat to us." She told him. Jay took a deep breath and followed Nya down the street towards the comic store.


	5. My Idiot

Jay and Nya wandered into the comic store, smiles on their faces.

"I've really missed this place," Jay spoke.

"I can tell." She smiled.

Maybe Nya was right. Taking Jay out into the city was a good idea after all. He seemed a lot happier. It might even bring the old Jay back.

Jay looked around to see if he could spot the new comics but instead, he saw what he didn't expect to see.

Nya walked up to a stand and took off one of the magazines. "Hey Jay, this looks--" She frowned at her boyfriend, who was staring off into the distance.

"You okay?" She asked.

"What's he doing here?" Jay wondered, approaching the person he was talking about.

Jay stopped in front of them and looked down at what they were reading.

"Star Farer. My favourite." Jay smiled.

The person looked up and seemed rather surprised to see him.

"Jay! How've you been?" They exclaimed, hugging Jay.

"Hey, dad. I'm okay. How about you?" Jay replied.

"I'm great!" He glanced at Nya. "Hi there Nya. Are you good?"

"I'm fine, thanks, Cliff." She smiled at him.

"How's mum doing?" Jay wondered.

"A little bit shook up after everything but nothing a bit of coffee and TV won't fix." He winked at his son.

Jay sighed. "I'm glad you two are getting on a lot better than we are."

"Why? What's happened?" Cliff frowned.

"I haven't stopped thinking about Cole since the funeral," Jay replied.

"Same here. I feel so bad. I wish we could have saved him." Cliff looked like he was close to crying.

Jay took a deep breath. "But enough of that. I'm here to have a good time today."

"That's why we're here." Nya smiled.

"Yep."

Cliff looked back down at his comic and then back at Jay. "Here. I'll buy this for you. My treat."

"Really?" Jay said excitedly.

"Can't I buy something nice for my son?" Cliff raised an eyebrow.

"Thanks, dad!" Jay hugged him.

After Cliff had bought the comic, Jay and Nya said their goodbyes to Cliff. Who knew how long it was going to be before they saw him again. The ninja was always constantly busy so they didn't have much time to spend with family. Jay had planned on asking Wu, however, if Libber could rejoin the team. She seemed like she still very much enjoyed a good fight and her son could see that. Sabrina, on the other hand, did not. But Jay didn't like thinking of Sabrina. She was a liar and Jay hated her with his whole heart. But she was Cole's mother so of course, he had to talk to her.

Speaking of Cole's parents, they hadn't been seen or heard from in a few weeks. Jay knew they would be quieter due to the loss of their son. It wasn't going to be easy for them so they kept it on the down-low for a few weeks.

"Well, that was nice," Nya stated.

The two were now wandering down the now-busy street.

Jay couldn't help but look around a little. He seemed a little nervous.

"Yeah. I didn't expect to see him there." Jay replied.

"I mean, it was kinda obvious that he'd be reading the Star Farer comics." Nya giggled slightly.

"Not at all." Jay began feeling awkward.

"Is everything okay? You seem tense." Nya asked worriedly.

Jay took out his phone from his pocket.

"What's wrong?" She frowned.

"I think my phone might be broken," Jay told her.

"What? Why?" Nya folded her arms.

"The home screen isn't working. I'm still here." Jay stated.

"Seriously? I thought that--" Nya stopped. "Wait was that just a joke?"

"No, I'm being serious," Jay replied. "I told you that I wanted to come to the city but I wasn't sure about it. I didn't think I was ready."

"You are ready! Didn't you see how you spoke to Cliff? You were so confident." Nya told him.

"That had nothing to do with confidence though. That was my father, it's different." Jay sighed. "I just want to go home."

_"Okay, you first," Jay said._

"I'm just trying to help you," Nya stated.

"I know but... I was wrong to think I might be ready for things to go back to normal." Jay replied.

_"I know you don't want to hear this but you have no idea how sorry I am. Jay, I miss you so much. I can't live without you." Nya began._

"You are ready. I know you are. You just have to be ready to put things in the past." She told him.

_"I was an idiot. I shouldn't have pushed you away like that. I made a mistake. Ben helped me to realise how lucky I am to have you in my life." Jay explained._

Jay took a deep breath. "Yeah, you're right. I am ready. I'm just second thinking things. I'm just being an idiot."

_"You aren't an idiot." Nya smiled, sweetly._

"Yes, you are an idiot. But you're my idiot." Nya punched him lightly on the arm playfully. Jay giggled.

"I don't know what I'd do without you." Jay smiled.

"I don't know what I'd do without me either." Nya winked.

"Hey! You aren't allowed to tease me yet!" Jay joked.

Nya smiled.

Jay frowned and broke eye contact. He began acting awkward again.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Don't you feel all the eyes on you?" Jay wondered.

"What eyes?" Nya's eyebrows creased with worry.

"Their eyes," Jay whispered.

Nya looked around at her surroundings, spotting people near them whispering and staring.

"They aren't looking at me, Jay, they're looking at...you." Nya frowned.

"It's because of all the stuff online, isn't it?" Jay questioned.

Nya's eyes shot open as she looked at her boyfriend. "What?"

"Oh come on, you thought I hadn't seen it? I haven't stopped looking at it." Jay rolled his eyes.

"Oh. I-I thought you hadn't seen it... sorry." She smiled awkwardly.

"It's weird though... but what they say is true." Jay sighed.

"No, it's not. None of it is true and you know that." Nya said.

"It is true! And you agree with them!" Jay exclaimed.

"No, I don't!" Nya argued.

_"I'm sorry, Nya. I still love you. I have always loved you." Jay told her._

"You never loved me!" Jay cried before running away, out of Nya's sight.

Nya just stood there, speechless.

For the rest of the day, Nya had searched nearly the whole city for Jay but there was no sign of him. She decided to head back to the Bounty to see if he had gone back there. Because of Jay's random outburst, she was getting more and more worried about him. And with the way he had been acting lately... it made her question whether he was hiding something. A few days ago, Jay had been really protective over his arm and, yes, she did have her 'suspicions' but she didn't want to see too harsh on Jay. He had been through a lot after all.

Jay never really had moments like this, especially in the past. Jay was changing and nobody liked it. Not even the slightest.

Nya rushed into the Bounty's living room where she saw Kai, Lloyd and Zane sat on the sofa watching a movie with a large bowl of popcorn.

"Hey sis, what's up?" Kai asked his out of breath sister.

"Where's Jay?" Nya asked.

Lloyd frowned. "Isn't that something we should be asking you?"

"He isn't here?" Nya sounded worried.

Zane shook his head, a look of worry and concern on his face.

Nya huffed. "Ugh, I've looked all over the city for him."

"Did you lose him?!" Kai exclaimed.

"No! Well kinda." Nya stated. "Everything was fine but then he started talking about the stuff online. He said that I agree with it, even when I don't, and then ran off."

Zane broke eye contact with Nya and bit his lip. He knew about Jay's self-harming but he hadn't told anyone because he had promised not to. He didn't want to break that promise either.

"Why would he do that?" Lloyd wondered.

"I don't know. He's seemed off all week." Nya replied.

"Yeah, I've noticed too." Kai nodded his head.

"Same." Lloyd agreed.

"Zane?" Kai asked.

Zane didn't reply. He wasn't even paying attention.

"Zane?" Lloyd frowned.

"Hm?" Zane returned to reality.

"Have you noticed Jay's weird behaviour this week?" Nya wondered.

"Oh um no." Zane smiled innocently.

"Don't worry about it guys. I'll keep looking for him." Nya told them.

"You sure?" Lloyd asked.

"Yeah. It can't be so hard to find him." She replied, running out the door.

"Hi, how may I help?" The policewoman asked.

When Jay had his little 'meltdown' and ran off, he didn't know where to go. He hurt so badly inside that he just couldn't take it anymore.

"There's been a mistake," Jay stated.

"I'm sorry sir, I think you're going to have to be more specific." She said, taking a sip of her coffee.

"It wasn't Ben who killed Cole," Jay told him. "It was me."


	6. Frenemies

The Police Commissioner led Jay down the corridor of the police station, towards the cells.

"When will I get my phone back?" Jay wondered, speaking up for the first time in twenty minutes.

The P.C stopped walking and turned to face the lightning ninja. The look on his face told Jay that he was not amused.

"Let's say in about ten to twenty years." He responded harshly.

Jay's eyebrows creased with worry.

He had decided to lie about who really killed Cole because Jay needed to get away from everything that was happening. He needed to get away from the thoughts, from people talking about him, from his family, his friends, Nya, Jessie, his self-harming... this was the only way to do it.

The P.C spun back around and stormed off down the corridor, the teenage boy right behind him. He paused in front of jail cell number 5 and began opening the door.

"Don't I get some sort of special treatment since I'm kinda famous?" Jay asked.

"Do you even know how jail works?" The P.C frowned.

"Of course I do!" Jay exclaimed.

The Police Commissioner rolled his eyes as he directed Jay inside the cell. Jay slowly stepped in after exchanging a look of worry with the chief.

"You'll be staying in here until someone takes you to Kryptarium." He explained.

"Kryptarium?" Jay sounded scared.

"That's where people go when they commit a crime. You of all people should know that." He spoke.

"What is that supposed to mean?!" Jay exclaimed.

The P.C ignored Jay's response and continued to speak. "You'll be sharing the cell with someone else who is going to be released tomorrow. It is going to be for the night so I hope that you two will get along. I don't want to be up at midnight stopping a fight."

"Who is it?" Jay wondered.

"You'll find out shortly." The P.C stated, slamming the door shut.

The room was dark and echoey. Jay stood there in the middle of the room, unsure of what to do. This wasn't the first time he would be an inmate. During the events of Skybound, he was framed, sending him to Kryptarium Prison. He didn't enjoy it much but then again, who would? Jay thought this would be different. He thought that his problems would just run away and be left in the past but it wasn't that easy.

Maybe he could make a new friend tonight.

A few hours passed and Jay sat on the cold floor of the cell. He was still very much alone. He heard the Police Commissioner wander past a few times, sometimes there were fights or arguments but nothing else happened. It was still pitch black and was getting darker and darker as the evening reached. At least that's what he thought as he didn't have a clock.

Within seconds, Jay's head turned to the door as it sounded as if there were voices right outside. The lock of the door unlocked and the door started to open. At this, Jay stood up instantly, his curiosity taking over. He was desperate to find out who his 'roommate' for the night was.

"We'll let you out in the morning. For now, you'll be sharing with someone who is being taken to Kryptarium Prison tomorrow." The P.C stated before closing the door.

Before Jay could catch a glimpse of who it was, the light flickered on. His roommate grabbed Jay by the collar and pushed him up against the wall, Jay's feet off the ground.

"What are you doing here?" They growled, their warm breath on Jay's face.

Jay managed to see who it was, his eyes widened in surprise.

"B-Ben?"

"Yeah it's me, so what?" He rolled his eyes. "Now are you going to tell me why you are here or not?"

"Well, we're sharing a cell for the night," Jay replied.

"But the last time I checked, I killed you." Ben raised an eyebrow. "So how are you here in this room and not in your grave?"

"Because you didn't exactly kill me," Jay stated.

"What do you mean?" Ben frowned, letting go of Jay.

Jay rubbed his neck to try and soothe the slight pain.

"You stabbed me, yeah, but they saved me." He said.

Ben frowned. "Who saved you?"

"The nurses and doctors... at the hospital..." Jay sounded confused.

"Great. Just great." Ben sighed. "Now you're alive and even more annoying than ever."

Jay rolled his eyes.

"And just why are you in a jail cell?" He wondered.

Jay sighed. "I kinda lied to the police."

"About what?"

"The death of Cole," Jay said. "Because they think it was you who killed Cole and almost killed me, I told them it was me who did it, not you."

"Woah, what?! Why would you do that?!" Ben exclaimed.

Ben thought for a second that Jay was lying or just joking around to get on his nerves. He hadn't known Jay long but he knew for a fact that he wouldn't do anything to put Ninjago at risk, at least not on purpose.

"I-... it's complicated." Jay began but broke eye contact with him.

"I know you well, Jay. I may have like killed you and betrayed you and all that stuff but I know when you're lying. And now is one of those times." Ben said, his arms folded.

Jay stayed silent and sat down on the cold floor. Ben sat down beside him.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

Jay took a deep breath. " I feel like everyone hates me. No, I know that everyone hates me. Every street I walk down, every internet page I go onto, there are always people talking about me."

"What do they say?" Ben wondered.

"Horrible things. I can't say though... it hurts too much to think about them..." Jay sighed.

"But you ignore them, right?" Ben questioned.

Jay shook his head. "I can't. Instead, my stupid brain believes it all. But why am I even telling you this? You'd just tell the world as soon as you get out of here."

Ben laughed a little. "You think this is something I'd mess with? I don't meddle with mental health."

"Am I supposed to believe that?" Jay frowned.

"No, but you could at least trust me," Ben responded.

"I do trust you."

"You do?!" Ben exclaimed, shocked.

"Yeah. You may have made some mistakes but I still believe that you are a good person." Jay told him.

"You are way too trusting." Ben shook it off.

Jay looked down at the floor and continued to stare at it. "But you are the only person I can trust with something."

"With what?" Ben raised an eyebrow.

"Only two people know about it but I didn't tell them on purpose. I didn't want anyone to know. But I know I can trust you." Jay stated.

"I'm so confused. Who else knows about this 'thing'?" Ben wondered.

"Only Jessie and Zane."

"Who's Jessie?" Ben frowned.

"My therapist," Jay replied.

"You have a therapist?"

"Let's just say, since Cole's death, I haven't been myself," Jay stated.

"But is what you are going to tell me serious?" Ben asked.

Jay nodded. "Very. But I need you to keep it a secret."

"A secret? You're trusting me with a secret? I feel so special." Ben joked.

"I'm being serious, Ben. Please." Jay said.

"Just tell me already."

"I can't say it," Jay stated.

Ben frowned. None of this made sense to him.

"But I can show you." Jay took a deep breath.

Jay slowly rolled up the sleeve of his shirt on his left arm and looked away, tears forming in his eyes. He closed them as tight as he could as he showed Ben his arm. All he could hear was a gasp coming from the guy sat beside him.

"Jay...?" He spoke softly. Jay opened his eyes and covered his arm back up quickly.

"I can't even look at it without crying. I'm so disappointed in myself but I deserve it. And I keep doing it." Jay sighed, trying to hold back the tears.

"Jay this is serious. Some of them look fresh too." Ben stated.

"This morning. Some were from this morning." Jay sighed.

"You shouldn't be doing this to yourself," Ben told him kindly.

"And why would you care? You want me dead anyway!" Jay snapped.

Ben took Jay's hand and squeezed it tightly for support. "It is never okay to be doing this to yourself. But people will always be there for you no matter what."

Tears fell down Jay's cheeks.

"I may have tried to kill you, sure, but I don't want to see you do this to yourself, Jay. It isn't worth it." Ben stated, rubbing the top of Jay's hand with his thumb.

Jay nodded slowly and rested his head on Ben's shoulder. Ben wrapped an arm around Jay and pulled him inwards, hugging him.

The two boys were now on the floor of the freezing cold room, Jay snuggled up to Ben sobbing his pain away. Ben didn't know what to do except for comfort Jay. He felt as if there was this force pulling him towards Jay even though most of him hated the lightning ninja so much. It wasn't love, it definitely wasn't. It was more of a brotherly friendship that he couldn't ignore. He hated seeing Jay do this to himself, it pained him to even think of the loveable teen to do so. Jay needed someone right now and Ben was the only one who he could trust.

Nya sprinted through the door of the Bounty, into the living room, where everyone else was.

"Did you find him?" Nya asked, panicked.

"We know where he is," Kai stated.

"Well, are you going to tell me?" She asked.

"He's at the police station," Zane stated. "We just got a call from the Police Commissioner."

"The police station? What's he doing there?!" Nya exclaimed.

"He's in a cell. And he's going to be taken to Kryptarium Prison tomorrow." Lloyd replied.

"Do you know why?" She wondered.

"That's what we're going to find out," Kai said.


	7. Dangerous Man

Nya groggily dragged herself out of bed. She wandered over to the mirror and groaned as she saw how messy her hair was. It was pretty black and was just above her shoulders. It was beginning to grow longer and to be honest, she couldn't be bothered to get it cut. She wore black pyjama shorts and a plain maroon top.

Rubbing her eyes, she slowly wandered down the corridor towards Jay's room and knocked. She didn't hear any noise come from inside so she opened the door and peeked her head around. It was rather tidy, his bed was made, and the blue sheets had only been put on yesterday.

Nya groaned, realising that Jay wasn't even there. Instead, he was at the police station in a cell.

The team still had no idea why he was there but they knew that it couldn't be good.

She closed the door and walked down the corridor into the living room, where everyone else was.

"Morning, Nya." Her brother greeted her.

She shot a smile his way before making her way over to the kitchen and grabbing herself a glass of cold orange juice.

"Did you sleep well?" Lloyd wondered.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose."

Kai, Lloyd and Zane exchanged looks.

"Master Wu has gone out to see someone in a faraway village. He left this morning." Zane told her.

"Okay." She replied.

"We were going to go over to the police station today to see Jay if you wanted to come?" Lloyd asked.

"I might." She said coldly.

Suddenly, a loud knock at the door of the Bounty startled all four of them.

"I'll get it," Kai stated before getting up and heading over to the door.

"Who the heck would be knocking at our door at 7 in the morning?" Nya complained, sitting down at the kitchen table.

After opening the door, Kai froze. Outside, the person gave the fire ninja a warm smile. Kai, in panic, slammed the door shut in their face. The rest of the team looked confused.

"Who is it?" Zane asked.

"The milkman," Kai replied instantly, his eyes wide with fear.

"But we don't have a milkman," Nya stated.

The sound of the door knocking made Kai scream. He sprinted behind the sofa and hid behind where Lloyd was sat. The green ninja rolled his eyes and went to open the door.

"Don't open it," Kai whispered.

"Why are you whispering?" Zane frowned.

"If we stay completely still, he won't know we're here." He said hastily.

"Who won't know we're here?" Nya questioned.

"I'm just gonna open the door," Lloyd stated.

"NO! DON'T!" Kai exclaimed.

Lloyd shook his head at Kai and opened the door, his eyes, too, went wide.

"CLOSE THE DOOR!" Kai shouted. Lloyd also slammed the door, his breathing heavy.

"Oh come on, it can't be that bad," Zane said to them both.

"Oh. My. God." Lloyd managed to say between breaths.

"I told you not to open the door but did you?? YES." Kai exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, okay?" Lloyd replied.

Zane shoved Lloyd out the way. Lloyd ran over to where Kai was and hid with him. Zane opened the door and looked rather confused at to who was there. Nya, however, could not see who it was.

"Are you going to slam the door in my face too?" They spoke sarcastically.

"Um... no?" Zane frowned.

"CLOSE THE DOOR ZANE!" Kai and Lloyd screamed in unison.

Zane turned his head to look at them and shook his head. "Don't be rude."

"Don't be rude? DON'T BE RUDE?! DON'T YOU SEE WHO IT IS??" Kai yelled.

Zane glanced back at the person and smiled. "Why don't you come in?"

"Thanks, Zane, at least someone is nice to me." The voice sounded familiar.

Nya froze in her seat, remembering the voice perfectly well. She looked over at her brother, who nodded with fear.

They came in and looked around at their surroundings. Zane closed the door and dragged Kai and Lloyd out from the back of the sofa.

"Stop being childish. He is our guest." Zane told them.

The person had short brown hair and green eyes. He wore a plain green shirt and blue jeans. He peered over at Nya and smiled.

The only thing that Nya could think of doing was glare at him. "What are you doing here?"

"I got let out of prison." He rolled his eyes.

"GO AWAY BEN." Kai interrupted.

"I'm here for a reason, you impatient little--" Ben began.

Zane coughed, stopping Ben from continuing.

"Don't you want to know where Jay is?" He asked.

"You know?" Nya acted surprised.

"Well yeah. I just had to spend the whole night with him in a stinky old cell." He stated. "And to be honest, it wasn't that bad."

"So you didn't try to kill him this time?" Kai raised an eyebrow.

Ben began to laugh. "No."

"Speaking of DEATH, you gotta any weapons on you right now?" Lloyd asked, acting suspicious.

"Unless a pen counts." He replied as he took a blue pen out from his pocket.

"Pens can be dangerous! Take it away from him!" Kai exclaimed.

"Shut up, Kai," Nya told him from across the room.

"Jay being in prison is linked to why I got let out early." Ben began. "I found out that he lied to the police."

"About what?" Zane frowned.

"The death of Cole. He told them it was he who killed Cole and that he stabbed himself just to frame me." Ben explained.

Looks of confusion, shock and sadness passed over the ninjas' faces.

"Why would he do that?" Kai frowned.

"I can't believe he would lie about that." Nya shook her head in disappointment.

"It's complicated." Ben sighed.

"You know?" Lloyd exclaimed.

"No that's what he told me. His reason is complicated." Ben told them.

"We need to go and see him. Today." Kai stated in anger.

"He's in Kryptarium now. You'd have to go there if you wanna see him." Ben stated.

"Either way, we have to talk to him." Lloyd pointed out.

"Can I just say something first?" Ben asked. "Um, I'm sorry about what happened before. I was out of order to betray you guys. You were all so nice to me but I went behind you back. Can you forgive me?"

"Pffft...NO," Nya shouted.

"I understand but holding a grudge isn't going to help," Ben stated.

"You killed Cole and tried to kill Jay! Do you really think we're going to trust you?" Kai questioned.

"In my defence, it wasn't me who killed Cole." He snapped back. "Also, I was wondering if you had a spare room."

"Why?" Zane frowned.

"I kinda don't have anywhere to stay..." He sighed.

"You can stay with us," Zane suggested.

"For now." Kai glared.

"Come on, let's go and get dressed," Lloyd told them.

Nya and Kai followed Lloyd down the corridor. Kai wanted nothing more than to be away from Ben.

"Zane, can I speak to you for a second?" Ben asked.

"Sure what is it about?" Zane wondered.

"Jay." He said, concerned.

"Is something wrong with him?" Zane tilted his head slightly.

"I know," Ben stated out of nowhere.

Zane frowned. "About what?"

"His self-harming," Ben replied.

Zane quickly shushed him and looked around to see if anyone was listening in on their conversation.

"How do you know?" He whispered.

"He told me," Ben responded.

"He told you of all people?" Zane raised an eyebrow.

"He said he could trust me. But that's why he's in there. He doesn't want to hurt himself but he can't stop. People constantly talking about him... it's driven him insane, Zane. I'm just really worried about him." Ben explained.

"You're worried about Jay? That's the funniest thing I've ever heard you say." Zane rolled his eyes playfully.

"I'm being serious, Zane. If he ever gets out, I need you to keep a very close eye on him. He's delicate." Ben told the nindroid.

"You actually care for his health?" Zane frowned.

Ben nodded seriously.

"But you tried to kill him." Zane pointed out.

"And I feel terrible about it. Just trust me, Zane." Ben pleaded.

"I don't know if I can trust you but you have to keep it a secret from the others. They can't find out about--" Zane began wearily.

"Yes, I know, he already asked me not to say anything. I'm not going to, don't worry. I don't mess with mental health s**t." Ben rolled his eyes.

"Thank you, Ben."

Jay entered his new cell at Kryptarium Prison and turned back to look at the Police Commissioner.

"You'll be staying here. Make friends because you're gonna be stuck here for at least 10 years." He stated before locking the cell and wandering off, out of sight.

Jay sighed.

He had lost everything. He lost his home, his job, his friends, his family, his therapist... what did he even have left? But he felt as if he deserved it. Maybe people could be happier now.

"So what are you in here for?"

Jay spun his body around to see a girl with long green hair. She wore a bright green crop top and black jeans. She sat there in a black comfy chair watched Jay, her legs crossed.

"Oh... hey Tox." He greeted her with a sigh.

"What's up?" She asked.

"I-uh..." Jay began.

"Sounds like you're stuck in here for a while." She stated.

Jay nodded.

"What did you do?" She asked excitedly.

"I-- murder." He told her.

"Woah! You? Murder? That's something I never thought I would hear. You've always been so soft." She smiled.

"I guess so. What about you?" Jay asked her.

"Robbed a bank." She giggled. "I'm scary, I know."

"Last time I saw you was at the Tournament of Elements." Jay pointed out.

She nodded. "How are things going? What have I missed?"

"A lot." He smiled as he thought of the memories of him and the team.

"How are things with you and Cole?" She asked.

Jay paused, trying to hold back the tears. He coughed. "Good."

"And Nya?" She smirked.

"We... uh... we got back together. The past few months have been a bumpy ride though." I replied, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"I heard."

"Huh?"

"I used to share a cell with Ben. He told me everything that happened. So you don't need to lie to me about Cole." She told him.

"Ah... right." Jay sighed.

"Don't worry about it, Jay. I'm not a bad roommate unless you snore. Do you snore?" She asked, her eyebrow raised. Jay shook his head instantly.

"Ben does. I don't know how much longer I could put up with that amount of noise during the night." She joked.

Jay smiled. "I'm just glad I have someone to hang out with. These next 10 years would be so boring without you."

"At least I have a jokester on my side." She added. "You'll be home in no time."

"I dunno if I wanna go home though..." He sighed.

"Don't you want to see your family and friends again?" She wondered.

Jay shrugged his shoulders.

"They don't know you're here, do they?" She questioned suspiciously.

Jay shook his head.

"Don't you think they're worried about you? What about Nya? She's probably praying for you to come home." She told him.

"I doubt it. They're most likely partying to my favourite songs and shouting stuff like 'at least he's gone now' or 'haha f**k you, Jay!'" He replied.

"I don't think they'd do that." Tox disagreed.

At least Jay had a friend. He was worried about being picked on by the other cellmates but now he didn't have to be worried. Tox would back him up.


	8. Hotheaded

Everything was silent. The boys were sat on the sofa, waiting to receive a phone call from the police station. Nya was pacing up and down the left-hand side of the room, hoping that Jay would be let out soon. They all wanted to know the truth from Jay, not from the guy who just showed up at their front door.

After a few seconds, the phone began to ring, making them all jump. Kai leaned forward and picked it up off of the coffee table. He put it to his hear.

"I'm sorry who is this?" Kai frowned. "Jessie?"

Nya gasped and snatched the phone from Kai's hand. The rest of the team didn't know Jessie, at least they didn't know her name. Maybe Nya could get some sense into Jessie, she might know what's going on.

"Hello, Jessie, it's Nya." She smiled at the phone. "Yeah. Do you know anything about--"

"What is she saying?" Lloyd interrupted. Nya aggressively shushed him before turning back to the phone.

"What?" She frowned. "No, Jay isn't at the hospital, why? Oh, there's some stuff going on, I completely forgot about his other session today, sorry about that. Haven't you seen it all over the news, though? Jay's in prison for something he didn't do." Nya glared at Ben for a second.

The room was silent again for a minute. But Nya's facial expression changed dramatically.

"I think you've got it all wrong. Jay would never do that." She gasped, her eyebrows creased with worry. "I'll believe it when I see it."

The team exchanged looks of confusion and worry.

"Um... okay... thanks for letting me know Jessie. Yeah, I'll let you know as soon as I hear something. Okay, talk later. Bye." Nya put down the phone and lifted her hand to her forehead.

"Nya? Is something wrong? You look stressed." Kai pointed out.

She shook her head. "I don't believe it..." She began pacing up and down again but this time, she sounded panicked.

"What are you talking about?" Ben frowned.

"T-there were signs... b-but I didn't bother to check with him..." She bit her lip. "How could I be so stupid?!"

Zane felt his stomach turn. He felt as if he knew exactly what she was talking about.

"Nya. Tell us what she said." Lloyd ordered, concerned.

She froze and looked them all dead in the eyes. "Jay... he... he self harms..." Tears began falling down Nya's cheeks as she covered her mouth from the shock of saying it out loud. It made it seem worse than when Jessie had said it over the phone.

At first, she couldn't believe it. She thought it was a prank. But now she knows that it was completely possible especially for the state that Jay was in. Now that it's all out in the open, she can't help but blame herself for it.

Lloyd rushed over to his teammate and hugged her. Her tears slowly soaked his shoulder as the water came flooding out.

Zane and Ben quickly looked at each other, the feeling of realisation hitting them. If Jay found out that they knew, he'd blame it on both Ben and Zane. They were the only ones who knew, except for Jessie. But they were closer to the team and were more likely to say something.

Kai shook his head in anger. "I can't believe that. He is such an idiot."

"Kai, calm down," Lloyd stated.

"I can't calm down, Lloyd, why would he do this?" Kai stood up.

"We're all upset that he hurts himself, Kai, we just have to give it time," Zane said calmly.

"That's not why I'm angry, Zane, I'm angry because he is putting himself first. What about everyone else who needs help? And then he's busy cutting himself instead of saving Ninjago or caring for the people around him. He is going to pay for this." Kai snapped.

Nobody said anything. They all knew that Kai was wrong but messing with him at this exact time was a terrible idea.

"I'm marching down to Kryptarium and slapping him right in that scrawny face of his." He gritted his teeth.

"Let me come along," Ben spoke up.

"What? Why would you want to come and see him?" Kai frowned.

"I just want to see my friends again and I wanna help with Jay," Ben explained before looking at Zane, who nodded.

"Fine." Kai rolled his eyes.

"Please don't kill him, Kai," Lloyd stated sarcastically.

"I'm not promising anything," Kai called out as he walked through the door, followed by Ben.

Tox wandered up to Jay and tapped him on the shoulder.

"You okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm just using this spoon to carve lines into the wall. Then I can see how many days I've been in here when it comes to the end of my time." Jay explained, showing his roommate the silver spoon in his hand.

She smiled a little. "That's both smart and dumb."

"Why thank you." He smiled back.

The warden banged on the gate of the cell, catching their attention.

"It's visiting time." They stated.

Jay glanced over at Tox and sighed. "There's no point in me going, no one would visit."

"Hey, I've been going for the past two years and I still have had no visitors. It's just fun to be there and watch the reunions and arguments. Come along just in case." She told him.

He nodded and followed the warden and Tox down the corridor towards the visiting room.

The room was filled with different tables and chairs. Several people were already chatting with the inmates, making Jay feel a little jealous. He didn't think that the others cared enough to come and visit.

"Go and sit down at a table and I'll stand at the back. If you need me, I'll be here, okay?" She suggested.

Jay nodded, sitting down at an empty table in the quietest corner of the room. He placed his head on the table, looking down at his hands that were underneath the wooden furniture.

Within minutes, he felt a pair of hands slap down on the table, making him jump. He raised his head to see Kai and Ben sat opposite him. Ben gave him a warm smile, which he returned, however, Kai didn't look very happy.

"Why are you in here?" Kai asked, angrily.

"I just--" Jay began awkwardly.

"Can't take it anymore? Can't take being around other people? Is that what it is? You just don't want to see other people in the street talking about you? Did I get that right?" He interrupted.

"H-how did you know?" Jay frowned.

"Lucky guess. Actually, no, it wasn't. I just assumed because of what you do to yourself." Kai stated.

Jay looked confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Your arm? Your self harming? Think you could hide it, huh? YOU IDIOT!" Kai shouted.

Jay gasped and quickly shushed him.

"Yeah, I know, big deal, right? How could you do this? What about us? You don't care for us, huh? You're just focusing on yourself because you're an attention seeker. Yep, that's what you are. You're looking for attention. Well, that's what you got." Kai looked him up and down in disgust.

Jay seemed a little scared. "Who told you?" Jay glanced at Ben. "Was it you?"

"No. I didn't, I promise." Ben raised his hands in surrender.

Kai frowned at the guy sat beside him. "You knew?"

Ben hung his head in shame.

"It was Zane, wasn't it?" Jay sighed.

"Zane knew too????!?!?!" Kai yelled.

"J-Jessie..." He sighed again.

"Yes it was Jessie but now I know that both Ben and Zane have been keeping this a secret from us." Kai glared at Ben before getting up from the table.

"Wait! Where are you going?!" Jay exclaimed, watching his friend walk away.

"Home." He stated angrily, not turning back to look.

Jay felt as if the whole world had turned against him. It's not like he wanted to self-harm, he just couldn't stop. What Kai was saying wasn't helping either. He knew that someone would say something but he was mostly expecting it to be Zane. Nindroids don't lie and they especially don't keep any secret that has something to do with someone's health. Jay was partly relieved that it wasn't Ben or Zane but now he felt bad because he just sold them out and he couldn't even be there to stop the whole team shouting at them. Now would have been one of those chances where Jay would want to talk non-stop to Cole but he couldn't... it was too late now.

Ben leaned forward, a look of sorry on his face. "I'm so sorry, Jay."

"It's okay, I was kind of expecting that to be honest. I just wasn't expecting someone to come to visit whether it was about my self-harming or not." He sighed.

"Just know that I'm here for you, okay? And I'll make sure that Zane doesn't get it too hard." Ben explained.

"Thanks, Ben." Jay nodded before turning to look at Tox, who smiled.

"How is she doing?" Ben wondered.

"Oh, she's good. At least I don't have to be cellmates with someone I don't know." He stated.

Ben nodded. "Well, that's great."

"BEN," Kai shouted from across the room.

"I'm just going to pretend like I didn't hear him," Ben whispered. "Because I want to talk to you."

Jay giggled. "Thanks. I know I'm not alone anymore."

"You were never alone," Ben stated.

"BEN. COME ON. LET'S GO." Kai yelled.

Ben sighed and stood up. "Good luck, buddy."

Jay smiled as he watched his friend wander off. Kai took one last glare at Jay and shook his head in disappointment before walking through the door, followed by Ben.

"BOO!" Someone shouted in Jay's ear, making him jump out of his seat. He threw a fist at the person's face, hitting them quite harshly in the cheek. He gasped as he realised who it was.

"Tox?! I'm so sorry!" He exclaimed.

"It's okay." She laughed. "I should know not to sneak up on a ninja."

"Is your cheek okay?" He asked worriedly.

She nodded with a smile. Her green hair flowed over her relaxed shoulders.

"It might be sore for a little while but it'll be alright." She replied.

Jay breathed a sigh of relief. He couldn't imagine hurting one of his friends.

"Man, your punches hurt though. I'm pretty sure they're worse than Cole's." She spoke.

"Wow. Really? That's something I never thought I'd hear." Jay grinned. "I guess I've just grown more... I dunno... aware of what's going on around me."

She nodded. "That's understandable. But you gotta be careful. I don't think it's Nadakhan who you should be worrying about anymore anyway. It's not like he can come back now, right? You gotta keep an eye on your friends. They're gonna be mad."

"I know..." He sighed.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure they'll lay off you for a little bit." She assured him.

"I hope so. But I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't."

The two wandered back to their cell and just spoke about their experiences since they last saw each other. It was a long and detailed conversation but didn't fail to miss anything out.


	9. Months Ago

"He's being selfish," Kai stated. "Why don't you get this?"

"He can't help how he feels, Kai," Zane argued.

"He doesn't want to do this to himself, you know." Ben declared.

The ninja team (and Ben) were standing around in the kitchen. Nya, Lloyd and Zane had waited for Ben and Kai to get home, hoping for some good news. They weren't expecting what they had been told.

Kai sighed. "Then why does he do it?"

Ben glanced over at Zane, who instantly broke eye contact.

"It's... complicated," Ben replied awkwardly.

"We have the time." Nya leaned forward on the kitchen counter. She was more determined than anyone else to find out why Jay was doing this. It hurt her more than it did anyone else.

Jay wasn't the sort of guy to reveal his feelings to anyone, even his friends and family. He liked to keep things on the down-low because he believed that everyone else was more important than him. That was one of the great things about the lightning ninja; he always put others first. In a time like this, however, it wasn't useful.

Ben wasn't sure about revealing Jay's feelings when Jay had asked not to. Yes, they already knew about his self-harming but that didn't mean Ben could spread things about why he did it. It wasn't right.

"Ben," Nya uttered.

Ben shrugged his shoulders. "He told me not to say anything. I can't. I promised."

"Seriously? Don't you remember how you hate Jay's guts? Or how you killed him? Just break your freaking promise!" Nya ordered.

"I can't break it, I'm sorry. But if you want to know, you should go and see him yourself. I'm sure he'd love to see you." Ben told Nya before storming out of the room.

The team turned to look at Nya, who seemed rather confused.

"It's not a bad idea," Lloyd stated.

Nya shook her head. "Absolutely not. I can't face Jay right now."

"Why?" Zane frowned.

"Because... I just can't..." She left the room as well.

She wasn't disappointed in him like Kai was. It wasn't the fact that she was angry that he was doing this. She was upset because the signs were right in front of her and she completely ignored them. Jay needed love and attention and Nya wasn't giving him that. She felt as guilty as when she would sneak to the kitchen in the middle of the night and eat the last of Cole's cake. Jay was a fragile daisy and if you didn't treat him carefully, he'd fall apart and you wouldn't be able to put him back together. Nya feared that he'd be lost forever.

She wanted the old Jay back but lately, things had just been getting worse. She tried to ignore the fact that he wasn't getting any better after Cole's funeral, which she was angry at. She was angry with herself because Jay was suffering and she wasn't helping him.

Jay had nightmares. Jay had memories. But Nya was okay because she didn't. Everything was normal for her. That's all she seemed to care about. Herself.

Tears fell down her cheeks as she slammed her bedroom door behind her. She slid to the ground, her knees up to her chest.

All those nights that she would spend on the floor next to Jay's bed, making sure he was okay were worthless. Yes, Jay knew she was there but that didn't stop the nightmares from occurring.

She wanted to be as far away from Jay as possible. She couldn't see him hurt. Not when she blamed herself for it.

Months had passed since Kai visited Jay. Jay entered the visiting area every day but nobody came. Not even his own girlfriend. It made him think about how he was right from the start. They didn't care about him, not even the slightest. This was why he didn't want them to know.

"Come on, Jay," Tox approached his table and touched his shoulder gently. "They aren't coming."

Jay nodded sadly. "I know but it doesn't hurt just to check..."

Tox sighed. It wasn't Jay's hopes that were crushing her but instead it was the fact that no one had come to visit him, not even his parents.

"I thought that maybe Ben would come and see me at some point or Nya or--" Jay paused. "Nevermind..."

"What is it?" Tox asked.

"This is one of those moments where Cole would be helpful but... he's not here. He's gone." Jay sighed.

"Let's head back to our cell." She suggested. "Then we can talk."

As soon as the two arrived back in their cell, they sat on the cold, hard floor, facing each other.

"What's on your mind?" She wondered.

"I can't help but think about Cole's death... I mean, he sacrificed himself for me. I had been so horrible and he just--" Jay burst into tears.

Tox placed her hand on top of Jay's hand, "Hey, it's okay."

Jay shook his head. "No, it's not. All I've done is blame myself ever since the funeral and now everyone is mad at me and doesn't even want to see me ever again."

"I'm sure they're just really busy." She assured him.

"I don't know... maybe... but... I should have told them..." He muttered.

Tox nodded. "It would've helped."

"But now I can't because they hate me. It's been months and they haven't even sent a letter. Maybe they've just given up on me." Jay sighed, tears still falling.

"There's no way they'd give up on you. You're too important. You've kept the team together with your positivity and your jokes." She told him.

"But I'm not that person anymore, Tox. I can't even think positively." Jay sobbed.

"Things will get better. Jessie could help you." She reminded him.

Jay shook his head. "I don't know if I can even trust her anymore. She told them without my permission and look where I am now... but I shouldn't blame it on her... it's all my fault..."

"Nothing is your fault, okay?" She said.

"Yes, it is. It's my fault that Cole is dead."

"Cole decided to take that bullet, not you. You didn't make him, did you?" She asked.

"Well, no..." He frowned.

"Then is it your fault?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Yes."

She sighed. "Look, if the team haven't come to visit you by now, they're idiots. They clearly don't know what they're missing out on."

Jay smiled a little. "Thanks, Tox."

"And Cole will always be here. He isn't gone. He's in our hearts." She returned the smile.

"Yeah... he isn't gone."

Ben wandered into the living room, his arms folded. The ninja were sat playing a game of Monopoly.

"HAHA! YOU LOST ALL YOUR MONEY!!" Kai shouted.

"Shut up, Kai." Nya rolled her eyes.

"Seriously? You're playing a game together? Have you forgotten?" Ben exclaimed angrily.

"No, Ben, we're trying to forget." Kai didn't lookup.

"Trying to forget?! You're terrible friends!" Ben shouted.

Nobody spoke. They all glanced up at him, Kai looked rather annoyed. The fire ninja stood up and slowly moved towards Ben, a look of disgust on his face.

"You don't get to decide what we do," Kai told him.

"You can't just forget about him," Ben stated.

"He's in there for 10 years, Ben, we would have moved on by then and so would he," Kai argued.

Ben shook his head. "You don't know Jay like I know him."

"We've spent 7 years of our lives with him and you think you know him better than us over the space of 5 months?" Kai frowned.

"Yes and maybe that's because he never liked to share his feelings with you 'cause he knew you'd hate him. If this is the way you're gonna treat him after you find out how he feels then f**k you." Ben snarled.

"No offence but you are the LAST person I would want anywhere near Jay." Kai snapped. "Don't you remember that you STABBED HIM? Do you really think we're going to trust you? We nearly lost two members of our team."

"That's all you care about, Kai. The team. You think you're in charge but you really aren't. You think you're more important than anyone else but you're all equal. Is Jay not important anymore?" Ben replied.

"Of course he is but there's no point waiting for him to get out. Things have changed now, Ben, and you don't have the right to pull me up on what isn't any of your business." Kai shouted.

Ben shook his head. "Someone has to tell you."

"You're just a bully. You never cared about Jay. You just wanted to show him the horrible side of the world." Kai looked him up and down.

"No, Cole is the bully who made him like this. After everything that he said to poor Jay, you think Jay wouldn't still think about it? I know for a fact that he does and that's why he's like this. I may have stabbed him but at least I didn't put all that horrible stuff in his head." Ben argued.

"Don't you dare speak about Cole that way." Kai glared, gritting his teeth.

"What are you going to do? Slap me? Shoot me with fireballs? I really don't care. I deserve it after what I did to Jay." Ben stated.

Kai shook his head. "You think you can gain our trust? You've already tricked Jay but you won't win us over. We won't forget what you did. You started all this."

"I've tried to apologise multiple times! I never asked you to trust me! I just wanted a place to stay." Ben pointed out.

"And we shouldn't have given it to you. It's your fault that Jay is in prison." Kai said.

"And it's your fault that he's still in there. You haven't even tried telling the truth to get him out." Ben snapped. "Now who's the villain?"

"You. You're still the villain and you don't belong here. I wish you didn't even exist. Your parents must have raised you like you were in a pack of wolves." Kai growled.

"I never knew my parents. I was an orphan." Ben replied.

"I don't care." Kai glared again.

"Your words don't hurt me."

"At least someone's words don't. Stay away from Jay. He doesn't need the stress that you're giving him." Kai stated angrily.

Ben began to back away, his eyes narrowed. He turned around, his back to Kai, and stormed off to his bedroom without looking back.

"I'm done playing nice." 


	10. Teacups and Teapots

Ever since the events of the previous day, nobody had really spoken, especially Kai and Ben. The two boys had a pretty... shouty... conversation. But now Ben was angry.

He marched down the corridor towards the main room, his backpack on his back.

"Where are you going?" Zane asked, startling him.

Ben stopped and spun around to see Zane and Kai stood at the kitchen counter.

"Out." He replied.

"Moving I hope." Kai glared.

"Haha, hilarious," Ben said sarcastically. "I'll be back later. I have something I gotta take care of."

"Nothing to do with Jay I hope," Kai spoke up.

"I'm not going anywhere near him now keep out of my business, airhead." Ben snarled before leaving.

"I am NOT an airhead!" Kai shouted.

"What do you think he's up to?" Zane asked his teammate.

"I dunno but I don't think it's anything good," Kai replied, taking a sip of his coffee.

"You don't know that," Zane argued.

"You think that after yesterday, he's going to be dancing with the fairies in Neverland?" Kai raised an eyebrow.

"You never know," Zane replied.

Kai rolled his eyes.

Ben wanted things to change. He wanted things to go back to normal. But they weren't going to. You're probably thinking, 'hey he's gonna go see Jay' or 'he's going on a murder spree'. WRONG. But he definitely wasn't staying in the city.

He travelled for hours. He knew it would take a long time to get there but he knew his plan would work one way or another.

He stepped onto the rough, rocky ground of his destination. A smiled formed on his face as he breathed in the fresh, salty air. This place reminded him of what had happened exactly 4 months ago. He felt bad for this but he needed to be there again. He needed to take it all in.

He approached the large wooden door and opened it up. He headed towards the one place he was desperate to go to. The large area was silent, cold and dark but he could just about see around. Glancing around, he found a few small red stains on the floor. He kneeled down beside it and gently ran his finger over them. They were dry.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps made him shudder. He peered around the whole room but there was no one there. Frowning, he stood up and shook it off. He was here for a reason.

He headed back outside and looked out at the calm ocean. He wandered over to the edge and looked down. As she sun shone brightly, it reflected off the water. A slight bright light was coming from underneath, which caught Ben's attention. A smirk formed on his face.

"Excuse me? What are you doing here?" A voice spoke from behind him, making him jump up. Ben spun around to see someone stood there.

"Could I have another coffee please Zane?" Kai slammed the cup down on the counter.

"Of course. I think I'm going to have a cup of tea." Zane smiled, heading over to the kettle.

"I'm guessing you're going to use the teacup I bought you for your birthday a few weeks ago," Kai suggested.

"Yes. I haven't had the chance to use it yet." He replied.

"I knew you'd like it. You get fussy when it comes to teacups." Kai told him. "Maybe I'll get you a teapot next t--"

"I think we should stay away from teapots for a while, don't ya think?" Zane cut in.

"Right." Kai nodded.

"Oh um, I'm just... uh..." Ben stuttered.

"You shouldn't be here." They stated.

"I just wanted to see this place. I've heard amazing things about it." Ben replied.

"Chen's Island isn't the sort of place that you should be visiting." They snapped. "I'm to have to arrest you."

"What? Are you even a police officer?" Ben frowned.

"No." They smiled. "I'm just kidding. I wanted to visit too."

"Oh. That's cool." Ben returned the smile. "I'm B--"

"I know who you are, Ben Miller. I've seen you on the news and in magazines. You're such an inspiration!" They exclaimed excitedly.

"I am?" Ben raised an eyebrow.

"Yes!" They smiled again.

They had light brown messy hair and hazel eyes. They wore a green shirt and blue jeans. They held out their hand for Ben to shake.

"I'm Jake Smith but you can call me Jake." He smiled.

**(Btw this is a different Jake than the Jake that was in s11)**

Ben nodded and shook his head. "It's nice to meet you."

"I heard that you killed Cole and Jay." Jake smiled.

"Yeah... wait--" Ben froze.

"Don't worry, I won't say anything. I murder too." Jake winked.

"You do?" Ben stepped back a little.

"I mean, I step on bugs. That counts as murder, right?" Jake wondered.

 _Is this dude being serious?_ Ben thought.

"Sure..." Ben raised an eyebrow, a slight smile on his face.

"So what you up to doing back here?" He asked.

Ben looked over at the ocean. "You wanna help me with a job?"

"I'd love to!" Jake exclaimed.

"Come here." Ben wandered over to his backpack, where he had placed near the edge.

Ben unzipped the back pocket and pulled out diver gear.

"I need you to keep an eye out for anyone whilst I dive down here," Ben told him. "Can you do that?"

"Of course!" Jake smiled.

"Cool." Ben smiled back.

Within the next few minutes, Ben was in his gear and was sitting over the edge.

"I've gotta be quick about this." He stated. "Just keep watch, okay?"

Jake nodded.

"Great. I'll catch you in a minute." Ben smiled before jumping into the water.

"But what are you even—" Jake began. Before he could clap, Ben was nowhere to be seen. He should have been watching.

"Oh." He said as he peered into the water.

Everything was silent. There was no sound of movement. Jake felt a little awkward being there alone. What if something bad were to happen to Ben underwater? Jake couldn't swim. Suddenly, Jake heard a quick dash from behind him. Spinning around, he glanced around to see if anyone was there. No one.

Within seconds, a head appeared from the water, causing him to jump back.

"Anyone around?" Ben wondered.

Jake shook his head, still unsure of what he had heard.

"Great." Ben grinned, hopping back onto dry land.

Jake looked down to see a golden lantern sort of thing in Ben's hand.

He frowned. "What's that?"

Ben smirked. "It's very important and very dangerous. Can you keep this a secret?"

Jake nodded excitedly. He didn't care about what kind of danger he was talking about, he just liked helping Ben.

"What does it do?" Jake asked, intrigued

"This will change everything," Ben stated wearily.

"Come on, Jay, just come along."

"No. There's no point. I'm just going to be let down again like I have every day for the past 3 months."

Tox and Jay sat in their cell whilst everyone else was chatting to the guests that were visiting them. Jay had gone every day but now he had lost hope in seeing his friends again.

"Please." Tox pleaded.

"I'm not going." Jay crossed his arms and pouted.

Tox rolled her eyes. "You are so childish."

"Why thank you." Jay smiles cheekily.

Before Tox could continue begging him, there was a knock on the cell door, distracting them from their conversation.

It was a police warden, he had come for some relatively good news.

"Sorry to interrupt but a visitor is waiting for you Jay." They spoke.

Jay frowned. "A visitor for me?"

"I told you to not give up hope!" Tox smiled.

"I bet it's Kai. I can't talk to him. Not after what happened last time." Jay sighed.

"That was months ago, Jay." Tox reminded him.

"Yeah, and no one has come since then. He's probably turned them all against me." Jay told her.

"Actually, it's not Kai." The warden said. "It's Nya."

Jay quickly exchanged looks with Tox.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Go see her!" She exclaimed.

Jay smiled, jumped up out of his seat and wandered to the visiting room. He put his hands in his pockets, expecting bad news.

As he entered the room, he glanced up to see his girlfriend sat at his table. He couldn't control it any longer. He was ecstatic to see her. As soon as she spotted him, she smiled and stood up. Jay sprinted towards her, pulling her into a tight hug, which she took.

"I'm so happy to see you. I thought you all hated me or forgot about me or—" Jay began to rant.

"I see you haven't stopped talking though." She giggled.

"Oh right." He smiled.

"I've definitely seen a huge change in his behaviour and mental state since he first arrived here," Tox stated as she approached them.

"Tox! It's great to see you again." Nya smiled.

"You too." Tox smiled back. "Don't worry, I've taken good care of him for you."

"I can see that." Nya paused and turned serious for a second. "Well... what I can see anyway."

Jay felt a little awkward and broke eye contact. "T-they're pretty much cleared up now..."

Nya nodded. "I need to talk to you about something."

"Okay, go ahead," Jay said worriedly. Nya sat back down at the table, Jay opposite her.

"Kai and Ben got into an argument last night," Nya stated.

"About what?" Jay frowned.

"Um... it was about you." She replied awkwardly. "Kai said he... was trying to forget about you because... it's too long until you get out and there's no point waiting..."

"That's.... reasonable I guess... I just never imagined Kai saying that..." Jay stuttered.

"Ben was arguing with him, saying that he should be helping you to get out and forgetting you was not the brotherly thing to do. It got a whole lot more serious but I'm not gonna bother you with the details." She told him.

"But why are you telling me this?" He asked.

"Because Ben set out really early this morning and he was acting kinda shady. His bag looked kinda heavy too. I just feel like he's up to something and I need you to stop it before it happens." She explained.

"Me? But I'm stuck in here." Jay sounded confused.

"And that's why either you need to get out or find some way to put him in here," Nya told him.

"Why me?!" Jay exclaimed.

"Because you know him better than any of us." She replied.

"He's your ex!" Jay stated.

"He's your best friend!" Nya argued.

Jay sighed. Ben was a closed book. Easy for a nerd to understand, but if someone like the ninja were to speak to him, he'd never reveal his pages and pages of secrets. But Jay and Ben were on the same level. They trusted each other and Jay knew a lot more about him than the rest of the team. Maybe this could work.

"I'll try." 


	11. Dark Figures

Jay was perched in the chair in his cell, thinking. After speaking with Nya, he knew he had to get out somehow. There was no way of sneaking out but maybe he could convince the Police Commissioner. It would be harder than he thought. He could at least try.

Tox casually wandered in and stared at Jay weirdly.

"What are you doing?" She asked as she raised an eyebrow.

He looked up slightly. "Thinking."

"You thought about how to get out?" She asked.

Jay shook his head, returning to reality, leaving his thoughts behind.

"You got any ideas?" She wondered. He shook his head again. He had been thinking for ages but nothing had come to him. No matter how many ideas he would try to come up with, they would never have worked anyway.

"It's like all my great ideas have been left on Chen's Island or something--" Jay froze.

Tox frowned. "What? What's wrong?"

"That's it!"

"You got an idea?" She wondered.

"Maybe there's something on Chen's Island that could help me prove that I'm innocent," Jay spoke excitedly.

"Like what?" Tox sat down on the floor in front of him.

Jay thought for a second. There was very little on that island now. It was deserted. What could there possibly be to prove his case?

"I'm sure you'll figure it out." She told him.

"It's hard. There isn't much there. Unless... no that will never work." Jay shook it off.

"What?"

"I was thinking about the CCTV but it probably doesn't even work anymore," Jay replied.

"But haven't you got like... lightning powers?" She questioned.

"Well yeah, but what has that got to do with the CCTV cameras?" He frowned.

"You could like zap them or something to make them work." She pointed out.

Jay gasped. "And I could show the police commissioner the tape of that exact day! Tox, you're a genius!"

"It was your idea at first," Tox muttered.

"I gotta go find the P.C. I'll be back later." Jay told her, jumping out of the chair and sprinting out of the cell.

"Good luck!" She called. She sighed, sitting all alone in her cell once again, just like how it had been before Ben had joined her.

The ninja were sat in the living room, discussing where Ben could have been the previous day. There had been there all morning. Kai had waited up all night, waiting for Ben to arrive home. It was pretty late and quite suspicious. They hadn't had many suggestions as to what he could have been up to. It really could have been anything.

Suddenly, there was a loud knock at the door. The team exchanged looks. Kai stood up and wandered over to the door. He slowly opened it, revealing someone stood there in all black. Their face was covered in a black mask, they wore a large, plain black hoodie, black shoes and black trousers. Kai raised an eyebrow.

"Are you a robber or something?" Kai asked, unimpressed.

They just stood there. They didn't say anything.

"Are you the police?" Kai wondered.

They didn't reply.

Kai glanced at the team but they just shrugged, staying out of what was happening.

"It's a bit early for Halloween. I ain't got any sweets that you can have." Kai told them, looking them up and down for a second.

Again, there was no response. It was rather strange for this to happen. Nobody came to knock on their door unless it was family or friends.

"Are you a girl?" The fire ninja asked.

"No." They replied in a deep voice.

This made Kai scared a little. He had never seen anything like it.

"How may I help?" Kai coughed, weary.

"Ben." He spoke.

Kai frowned. Now people were asking for Ben?

"What about him?" Kai folded his arms.

"Is he here?" He asked, even though it sounded like more of a statement due to his tone of voice.

Kai turned to look at the team. "He's uh-- no."

"Good." The person pushed past Kai and into the room, facing the ninja.

"Hey! You can't go in there!" Kai exclaimed. Lloyd held up his hand and tilted his head a little as he spotted the black figure.

"No, I wanna see what this guy has to say," Lloyd stated, sitting forward.

Nya and Zane exchanged looks whilst Kai shut the door, not taking his eyes off of the person.

"I know what he's done." He stated coldly.

"What?" Nya frowned.

"Who's done what?" Zane asked, confused.

"Ben." He replied.

Kai approached him, getting into his face a little. "What has that little brat done this time?"

"I cannot tell you." He said.

"You what?" Kai stepped back.

"I refuse to talk to you. I would rather talk to someone more reliable with this information." He explained.

"Reliable?" Lloyd questioned.

"Jay," Nya stated out of nowhere.

Nya knew that if anyone could be trusted with any information, it would be Jay. She always counted on him to keep her secrets. He was the most reliable person she knew. He would be perfect for this. But the only problem was that he was still in prison. If Ben really had done something, they'd need to know as soon as possible.

"But he's in kryptarium." Zane reminded her.

"Then I shall wait until he gets out." The person replied.

The boat slowly approached the island. The island that Jay refused to go on. The memories were beginning to flow back to him already and they weren't even on the island yet.

"I hope you aren't wasting my time, Mr Walker." The Police Commissioner stated as he drove the boat up to the docks.

Jay sighed. "Yeah me too."

As soon as they stepped onto dry land, Jay felt a sudden urge hit his brain. The urge that made him close to crying.

_There, with his large microphone, stood the Police Commissioner and his crew. They had got to the island by boat._

_The ninja arrived and were very surprised._

_"How did they--" Kai frowned._

_"Cole must have called them on the way here," Zane suggested._

_"What?!" Ben yelled._

_"They're your problem, not mine." Nadakhan laughed._

_Suddenly, the door to the building reopened, catching everyone's attention._

_"This was YOUR fault, Nadakhan."_

_Nadakhan gulped._

_"H-hey Jay. My old buddy! How's it going?" Nadakhan asked worriedly._

_"Stay back, lightning ninja!" Ben demanded._

Jay was stronger now. He could take whatever was thrown at him. Well unless it was his own thoughts but things were getting better now.

He took a deep breath and lead the P.C. inside, looking around for the CCTV room. There were like a million rooms for this small place; it was unbelievable.

_"You will pay for what you have done to me, to my family and to my friends." Jay took no notice to Ben._

Jay refused to be anywhere near the arena. It hurt the most. His very own brother had died there and now he would never get to see him again. He was gone. It sucked but Jay was used to having good things being taken away from him. It happened way too often.

_Jay's hands were by his side but little balls of lightning began to appear in his palms. They soon transformed into full lightning bolts that could kill or shock someone instantly. Jay glared at his enemy before striking him. Nadakhan began to shake violently, also making noises to show that he was being electrocuted. The teapot of Tyrahn magically appeared out of nowhere. It was in mid-air but right in the light of the sun. As the brightness struck it, the pirate symbol returned to its full self and an orange cloud of dust formed around Nadakhan._

They had eventually arrived at the control room with the cameras. It was glitchy with very little picture.

"I really hope this works," Jay stated before rubbing his hands together. He closed his eyes shut tight and raised his hands. He gently zapped the computers with his lightning bolts, hoping it would work.

Within seconds, the systems were finally back to the way they should have been. The picture was perfect, a little blurry than usual but it should be able to help him a little.

"Yes! It worked!" Jay smiled, tapping many keys, trying to find the past recordings.

After about 2 minutes of loud typing, he eventually found the right day. He clicked on play.

The Police Commissioner peered over Jay's shoulder, narrowing his eyes at the screen. There, on the screen, was a video of Jay talking to Cole's limp body after he was shot by Clouse. Jay looked away for a few seconds. He couldn't bare to see it again. Tears began forming in his eyes but he took a few deep breaths, thought happy things and continued to skip forward to the real proof that he needed.

Now, there was a video of Ben sneaking up behind Jay, stabbing him in the back with a small, sharp knife. Jay turned to the P.C. with a grin.

"See? I didn't do it." Jay stated.

"I see... well, I'm sure that with this information, we can get you out of kryptarium in a few days, a week at most." He told him.

"Yes!" The lightning ninja laughed happily.

"But that means you'll have to share a cell with Ben again for a night." He added.

Jay froze. "What? Why?"

"This is attempted murder, Jay, he needs to be locked up." He replied.

Jay sighed. "Right..."

"But at least you'll be out and where you deserve to be." He smiled.

Jay nodded slowly.

This wasn't part of his plan. He didn't want Ben back in prison. He didn't feel as if he deserved it. Jay needed to get out. Maybe prison was where Ben needed to be... he needed to be punished after all... Jay felt bad for this but, then again, he knew it was the right thing to do.


	12. Free

Jay wandered back into the cold, dark cell for one last time. He spun around to see the Police Commissioner stood in the door, his hand on the door.

"I'll be back to let you out in the morning. Just don't kill each other." He joked.

Jay nodded as the door slammed shut, he flinched.

"Well, well, well." A voice spoke from behind him.

Jay jumped slightly and turned to see a familiar friend sat on the floor.

"Looks like you've listened to the angel on your shoulder instead of the devil." They stated.

Ben was sat on the floor in the corner looking rather annoyed.

"I just need to get out. It's important." Jay told him.

Ben shook his head. "We were supposed to help each other."

"And I'll try my best to get you out," Jay said.

"It's too late. The Police have seen the evidence. There's no way that I'm getting out now." Ben sighed.

"I'm sorry but I needed to get out, Ben, you gotta understand." Jay apologised.

"There could've been other ways." Ben snarled.

"Missions come before friends, you know that," Jay told him.

"We aren't friends," Ben argued.

Jay sighed. He had really messed up this time.

Ben was dangerous. He was capable of so many things and messing with him was a bad idea.

The following morning, Jay travelled home alone. He thought about calling Nya or someone to come and pick him up but he decided not to. He felt like taking a casual stroll through Ninjago City as he had been locked up for so long. Things had gotten better for him. Most horrible thoughts had left his mind now, and he was prepared for the hate. However, he knew that he wasn't alone. He had people there for him.

He marched up to the door, a smile on his face. He knocked loudly, making sure someone heard. He thought of just opening the door, but that might be rude.

Within minutes, the door was opened by his friend, roommate and teammate, Zane.

"I'm not going to buy your stupid--" He began. Zane froze as he looked up to see one of his closest friends.

"Jay?"

"Hey, Zane." Jay smiled.

Zane pulled him into a tight hug, smiling too. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm back. Ben is in prison." Jay told him, pulling away.

"Really?" Zane exclaimed.

Jay nodded and peered around Zane, spotting both Lloyd and Nya sat on the sofa. Nya's head was resting on his shoulder and they were watching TV. She didn't look very happy.

"What's up with Nya?" Jay asked the ice ninja.

"Oh, she's been feeling under the weather. She's really missed you. She said that she's been feeling quite lonely so Lloyd is comforting her, you know?" Zane explained.

Jay nodded. "I'm glad someone looked after her whilst I was gone."

"I heard she came to see you at kryptarium," Zane stated.

"Yeah, she did. I missed her." He replied.

"Well, why don't you go see her?" Zane smiled.

Jay was ecstatic. He waited for ages to see her properly. Now they could finally have a proper conversation. Although, he did kinda miss Tox. She was a pretty cool roommate too. Jay stepped inside, Zane closed the door behind him. He slowly approached his girlfriend, ready to hug the life out of her.

Lloyd was the first to spot him. His eyes grew wide, a huge grin on his face.

"Jay!" Lloyd exclaimed happily. Nya frowned and glanced over. She raised her head and jumped off the sofa, towards him. The two joined in a hug, smiles all round.

"I missed you so much!" She grinned.

"I did like you suggested. Ben is back in prison." Jay told her.

"But how did you--" She began with a frown.

"I took the Police Commissioner to Chen's Island and showed him the CCTV. There was enough evidence." He smiled.

"I'm so glad to have you home." She smiled.

"I'm glad to be home." He replied, returning the smile.

A lightbulb suddenly pinged over Nya's head.

"There's someone here to see you." She told him. "They said they know what Ben has done but that they would only talk to you."

"Who is it?" Jay frowned, confused.

"We don't know. They are wearing all black." She responded.

"I'm guessing they are in Cole's old room," Jay stated. She nodded.

Jay headed to the bedroom that he dreaded going in. He hadn't been in there since the incident. Perhaps it would make him feel better.

He burst into the room, spotting the dark figure stood in the middle of the room, looking around at its surroundings.

"You better not have touched anything," Jay stated, instantly shivering as he stepped into the room.

Something just felt odd being in there.

"Jay." They stated coldly.

"Yes?" Jay frowned. "You... know what Ben has done?"

"You cannot say anything." They said. "To anyone."

"I won't, I promise." Jay narrowed his eyes at the shady being.

The dark figure took one single step towards Jay. They smelled as if they hadn't showered in at least a week. Or changed their clothes. It wasn't a very pleasant smell.

"The teapot."

"Teapot? As in the Teapot of Tyrahnn?" Jay frowned.

They nodded once.

"What are you talking about?" Jay wondered. All of this was confusing him. It was the feeling of being in his dead brother's room as well. It just didn't feel right anymore. And neither did this weird figure who decided to turn up out of nowhere.

"He freed Nadakhan."

Jay coughed, his eyes wide. "Say what?"

"I watched him. He was with some kid. They freed him together."

"Oh no... this... this is very, very bad..." Jay seemed uncomfortable.

After the whole thing with Ben being supportive of Jay and apologising for what he had done in the past, Jay assumed that he'd be different, that he'd be good for once but... he was wrong. He trusted Ben only to find out that he'd gone behind Jay's back and betrayed his trust. Again. The first time, shame on Ben. The second time, shame on Jay.

He should never have trusted him.


	13. Interment

The past week had been dark. Gloomy, even. Many events had taken place, destroying friendships, and creating memories; some good, some bad. However, what they were celebrating today were in fact, bad memories.

Darkness had once taken over the land, it had taken over their minds. They had done everything they could to stop it from happening but it was too late. The thick, dark red liquid covered the floor like a blood river. As soon as the events outside had taken place and were over, the sirens in the distance distracted them from the slight possibility of it coming back.

They thought they were lucky. They thought things would change for them. It didn't. Only one returned. The other laid silent, their mind corrupted with the dead of night. It broke hearts. It broke windows from the anger and stress from within. It changed everything.

They thought they could move on. They couldn't. And now they had to face it all again. That lifeless body before them... that hole in their chest... the only proof of that they were a hero.

Sat in the seats of sadness were the only people who cared. The only people who knew the truth. Only days after the incident, that same body laid there in the brown, wooden box, the most expensive one they could find. They deserved it after all. Heroes shouldn't have to lay in a dirt pile for eternity.

Tears fell. Hearts raced. Hands were held for comfort. It was like the world was ending, except it wasn't. Although it had done for one person.

He slowly approached the box, peering down at it. A shiver sent down his spine, the memories slowly slipping back into his mind. He didn't want this. He never wanted this. His hands quivered in fear. It should've been him.

Maybe if he wished hard enough, the nightmare would just disappear. He'd wake up, everything would be okay, they'd be there by his side.

Their eyes were closed, their skin paler than how it used to be. So peaceful yet so painful to look at.

Taking a deep breath, he knew exactly what he was going to say. He just had to keep his cool.

"A few days ago, we lost him." He began. "He risked his life to save us and now he's gone. It feels like it was just yesterday when we were running around after villains and playing video games together. I want those memories back. I want it to happen all over again because those are the moments that I enjoy the most. I don't want to spend the rest of my life mourning. You can't help the way you feel about people, and that's why when you lose someone, you feel as if your entire world has ended. Things will change. I'm not prepared for that but I know that we can work ourselves out because that's what he would have wanted. We can't drag ourselves down. But we can't forget about him. He died a hero. And I love him."

A tear fell down his cheek as his friends and family approached, joining a large group hug. He closed his eyes, trying to think of happy memories.

Jay opened his eyes once again, a single tear in his light blue eye. What felt like days ago was weeks ago. He could remember standing in front of that coffin-like it was yesterday. Except it wasn't and Jay was still hanging on. Letting go was tough.

"I miss him every day," Jay stated softly.

"Who?" The deep voice asked.

Jay turned his head slightly to look at the dark figure stood beside him. Jay was kneeled down on the bright green grass.

"Cole, my brother," Jay replied. "This is where he was buried."

The dark figure stayed silent as it watched the lightning ninja place some freshly bought blue flowers on top of the grave.

"I just wish I could hug him. It's all I want." Jay added. "But I fear that now Nadakhan is on the loose one again, something is going to happen and this may be the last time I get to visit him. I told myself I wasn't going to come back here but..."

"You needed to?" It finished, the tone of voice sounding a little sympathetic.

Jay nodded, drying his tears. He slowly stood up, took one last look at Cole's grave and smiled. He felt as if he was there; like he was close. It felt right.

"I'll see you soon buddy." Jay smiled happily and wandered off.

The dark figure stepped in front of the grave and stared at the gravestone. ' _Cole Bucket, master of earth, died a hero. 12 February 2001 - 22 September 2019_ '. It then peered down at the flowers, spotting a small card addressed to Cole. It looked behind him but didn't see Jay. It picked up the letter and opened it as cleanly as possible, trying not to break the white envelope.

_'To Cole,_

_There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of you. So much has happened, I just wish I could spend these stressful days with you. I fear that things will change with you gone but I'll try to stay positive. I really want you back. You are the only thing I want right now. I miss you so much. Why couldn't it have been me instead? You were innocent. Please come home. I know it isn't possible but... I just want to hug you. I need all of this stress to be taken off of my shoulders. I want to laugh with you again. I want to joke with you again. Just promise me that you'll be okay up there in heaven. I'll see you soon, bro._

_Love Jay xxx'_

The dark figure put the letter back neatly, the way he found it and headed the direction Jay went in.

Cole's funeral was a sad time for everyone, especially for close friends and family. Jay knew he would never be the same. He at least tried not to change.

The dark figure was just there for assistance. They knew what was happening, they told them. The team needed them no matter what. They might know how to stop Ben or Nadakhan too. 


	14. Huntingtons

Deep in the middle of Ninjago City was Ninjago Museum. It was one of the most popular places in all of Ninjago, attracting almost 2 million people a year. It was packed full of Ninjago's history, including the fight with the Overlord, Morro, Chen, even Nadakhan. Not many visited Cole's memorial; only a few here and there. The ninja never visited. They set it up after his funeral. It had been months and Jay still couldn't manage to get his head around it. The memories, the laughs, the fights... all gone.

He was trying to turn over a new leaf but every corner he turned, there was always something reminding him of his brother. It hurt. It was getting better; slowly but surely.

The new guard patrolling the museum was wandering down the dark halls of Ninjago's history. Darien had only arrived in the centre part of Ninjago only a few days ago. He lived in the silent part of Ninjago. Nobody ever spoke of it. Nobody there knew what was going on around them. It was like they were in their own little dome of safety. Darien had spotted a job opportunity and immediately signed up for it, not knowing the danger he could be putting himself in.

It was pretty much silent. This was his second night. Last night went perfectly, the way he expected it to go. But now nobody was safe...

His footsteps were the only noise around. You could say that it was eerily silent. He had this gut feeling, telling him that he shouldn't be there. But this was his job. He had to stay put. Turning behind him, he saw a slight shadow in the distance.

He jumped, "W-we're closed."

The shadow didn't move, it stayed perfectly still.

Darien moved towards it, step by step, as slowly as possible.

"Sorry, sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

He slowly brought up his torch, shining it right at the figure. No matter how bright the torch was, they were still a dark shadow. It was like they weren't even there.

Darien shook his head, blinked his eyes and looked straight back at the shadow. Except now, they were gone.

"Phew," Darien smiled, "I must be going crazy or something."

Turning back around, he felt a sudden chill down his spine. He continued to walk down the corridors of the museum, a weird feeling in his chest. He knew he wasn't alone.

"This isn't funny." He spoke aloud. "Leave before I called the police on you."

He paused, listened for a second.

"Forget about it Darien, there's no one there." He told himself, smiling once again.

He kept that smile on his face. Turning the corner, he had a great feeling in him. He was happy to be there.

Suddenly, as he entered the next room, he spotted that shadow guy in front of him. But now it wasn't just a shadow. It was a person. They had a long black ponytail, orange skin, they looked very much like a genie.

"BOO!" They shouted. Darien froze on the spot, he didn't scream. He wanted to move so badly but he couldn't. It was like he was glued to the ground. Except he wasn't...

"Where are we even going, Lloyd?" The fire ninja asked as the ninja team sprinted through the busy streets of Ninjago City.

Lloyd turned his head to look at Kai, who was beside him, his mask over his face. "A museum guard saw something last night and I have a feeling it is exactly what we need."

"Need for what?" Nya wondered.

"Well, we've been bored out of our minds lately. Nothing has happened around here. This could finally be something good." Lloyd replied.

They all had a bad feeling about this, especially Jay. He knew exactly what the museum guard saw last night, who else would be seen in Ninjago's museum?

The team sprinted up to the door and stopped, surprised, to see the dark figure they had spent the past few days withstood by the door, his arms crossed. Kai struggled to catch his breath.

"H-how d-d-did you get h-here so fast?" Kai put his hands on his knees and gasped for air.

The dark figure stared down at him.

"Y-you were ri-ight beh-hind us." He continued.

"You're slow." They replied blankly.

Kai looked up at them. "Oh th-hanks b-buddy."

"We're aren't 'buddies'." They told him. Kai nodded slowly, eventually regaining his breath.

The team entered the museum to see the museum guard, Darien, sat on a bench shivering slightly.

"Darien?" Lloyd approached him softly.

Darien slowly looked up at them, fear in his eyes.

"Are you okay?" Lloyd kneeled down beside him.

"It was just a shadow... but... but it wasn't..." He spoke quietly.

Another museum guard approached the team, glancing down at Darien.

"We found him this morning." He stated. "He was by Cole's memorial, just frozen. He was shivering in fear. It was like he was glued to the ground or something."

"Frozen?" Kai frowned. "But why?"

"I wanted to run but... I couldn't." Darien told them.

"Why not?" Zane asked sweetly.

"I have Huntington's Disease," Darien spoke up.

"Huntington's Disease?" Kai raised an eyebrow.

"Huntington's disease is a condition that stops parts of the brain working properly over time. It's passed on from someone's parents." Darien explained. "It gets worse over time and is usually fatal after a period of up to 20 years."

"Are there any symptoms or anything like that?"Lloyd asked.

Darien nodded. "Difficulty concentrating and memory lapse, depression, stumbling and clumsiness, involuntary jerking or fidgety movements of the limbs and body, mood swings, personality changes, problems swallowing, speaking and breathing and difficulty moving."

"Wow. That must really suck." Kai sighed.

"Kai, really?! That's all you have to say?!"Nya exclaimed.

"I don't do well in these sorts of situations, you know that!" Kai replied.

"Someone with Huntington's Disease can die within 10 to 25 years within having it," Darien added.

"How long have you had it for?" Nya asked.

"About 23 years." He responded.

"So you don't have long left then." Kai's eyebrows creased with worry. The team shot horrified looks at him.

"Do you mind?!" Darien exclaimed.

They all became silent at Darien's sudden outburst.

"Mood swings..." Lloyd whispered to the others, who calmed down a little bit.

Darien shook his head quickly and looked at them guiltily. "I'm so sorry. I can't help it."

"It's okay, don't worry about it." Lloyd gave him a warm smile.

Jay turned to the dark figure that was stood beside him. He leaned in slightly.

"What I wanna know is what he saw last night," Jay whispered. The dark figure nodded slightly.

The museum guard stepped forward and placed a hand on Lloyd's shoulder, making him jump.

"Could I speak to you guys briefly?" He wondered.

Lloyd nodded and turned to Jay. "Could you stay here with Darien?"

"Of course!" Jay smiled. He watched his teammates wander away with the museum guard to the next room, leaving Darien, Jay and the dark figure alone.

Jay peered at the person beside him, who shrugged. He stepped forward, glancing at Darien.

"So... I know the others aren't here right now but I really wanted to ask you a question." Jay began.

"Ask away." Darien beamed.

"What happened last night?" Jay asked, sitting down in front of him.

Darien frowned, trying to remember every little detail of the bizarre event. "Well... it was around midnight. I was strolling down the corridor between the hall of villains and Cole's Memorial when I heard a noise. I turned around to see a dark figure."

"Did you shine a light on it?" Jay wondered.

Darien nodded.

"Who did it look like?"

"Just a shadow. Even when I shone a light onto it, it wasn't any different. I hadn't seen anything like it."

"What happened next?" Jay sat forward eagerly.

"I blinked a few times, only to find that the shadow had gone. I told myself to think nothing of it but then I heard the noises again. I turned into the next room and there stood the exact shadow I saw before. Except, it wasn't a shadow. It was a person." Darien explained.

Jay became even more interested within every second. "Who was it?"

"I don't know. I had never seen them before. Well, not in real life anyway."

"What do you mean 'not in real life'?" Jay frowned.

"I saw the exact same guy when I was in the hall of villainy. But he wasn't a statue." Darien replied.

"Do you think you could... show me which one?" Jay asked politely, hoping it wasn't who he thought it was.

Darien nodded and stood up. He shivered slightly and wandered down the corridor towards the hall of villainy. Jay exchanged looks with the dark figure before following Darien. They entered the room. Darien stopped and glanced around at his surroundings for a moment before raising his arm and pointing at one of the statues. Jay stepped forward to take a closer look, gulping.

"I better get back to the main room before the others think I've run away," Darien told them before leaving the room.

Jay continued to stare at the statue for a while before turning to the dark figure stood behind him, aimlessly staring at the statue too.

"This is... bad." Jay sounded worried.

"I warned you." They replied.

Jay nodded before frowning. "I don't think you ever told me your name. Do you have a name?"

The dark figure stood there for a second before replying, "No."

"Billy. How 'bout Billy?" Jay suggested.

"No."

"Can I call you Billy?"

"No."

"I'm gonna call you Billy."

Jay turned back to the statue and looked at it worriedly.

"What are we going to do?" Jay sighed. "I already went through so much and now I might have to do it again. What if someone else gets hurt? I can't lose anyone else."

The dark figure (now known as Billy) stepped forward and put a hand on Jay's shoulder for comfort. He didn't say anything, as usual.

"Um..."

Jay frowned and looked up at Billy. "What is it?"

"I'm pretty sure that statue just blinked."

Jay's eyes grew wide as his head shot up to see the statue now smirking. "It wasn't like that before." He stepped back, his heart racing.

"You got that right." The statue spoke.

"It's not a statue. I repeat IT'S NOT A STATUE!" Jay shouted.

The 'statue' moved forward, revealing it to be none other than the nasty Djinn himself.

"Miss me?"


	15. Powerless

"No, no, no," Jay's breathing was heavy, "Not at all."

"That's a shame. Well, I'm back now, so..." Nadakhan smiled.

"No, we don't want you. Please go home." Jay panicked.

Nadakhan glanced over at Billy, frowning for a second. "I see you've made a new friend. Or should I say... old?"

Jay's head moved rapidly towards Billy, his eyes wide. He suddenly gasped, "Ronin?"

Billy stayed silent.

Jay frowned. Rather than feeling scared about Nadakhan returning, he felt more shocked as to why Ronin would pretend to be someone else and help the ninja out. He was usually their ally, not their friend.

"I don't know who it is but I just know that they're hiding something," Nadakhan smirked.

Billy showed no emotion, not that Jay could tell as their face was covered.

"But it's fine. They could never win a fight against me anyway..." Nadakhan stated.

"I can," Billy replied harshly.

Nadakhan began to laugh. Jay just became more confused.

"You think you could beat me?" Nadakhan joked. "As if."

Before Jay could say anything, Billy lunged forward towards Nadakhan and began throwing punches and kicks his way. Nadakhan managed to grab their leg and throw them across the room, hitting one of the neatly placed statues, creating a loud crash.

"Billy!" Jay exclaimed worriedly. Jay pulled his hood over his head, a disgusted look on his face. The one thing that Jay hated the most was people he cared about getting hurt. He couldn't bare it. He drew his sword and headed towards Nadakhan, swinging the sword towards his face. Nadakhan quickly drew his sword too and swung back, colliding with Jay's sword.

"Jay, watch out!" Billy shouted from behind. Jay moved out the way rapidly, making Nadakhan very confused. Billy sprinted back to Nadakhan, who swung their sword into the air, knowing he was going to hit them. Instead, to Nadakhan's surprise, Billy grabbed Nadakhan's sword and held it as tight as he could, not giving the djinn a chance to get free. Nadakhan struggled as Billy looked him dead in the eyes. Within seconds, the sword became looser, confusing the djinn. He peered down to see a small rock fall out of his hand. Billy stepped away, watching him like a hawk. Jay watched from a distance, shocked.

Nadakhan peered over at Billy, his eyes wide. "YOU!"

Billy stayed silent.

"I can't believe you did this." Nadakhan shook his head and reached his hand into his pocket. "You asked for this."

Within seconds, Nadakhan had drawn out his Djinn Blade and whipped it, a long golden bolt shooting from it towards Billy.

"New powers?! Oh, come on!" Jay exclaimed. "Billy--!"

Before they could do anything, Billy was struck by the bolt, their powers almost slipping away. Jay jumped in front of the beam instantly, being struck with it instead, surprising both Nadakhan and Billy. Nadakhan smirked and brought even more power out of Jay. Jay's powers were continuously being sucked away, along with his strength.

"Jay!" Billy shouted.

Nadakhan began to laugh evilly as he sucked all the life out of his enemy. About two minutes later, Nadakhan finally stopped and smirked at the Djinn Blade. Jay fell to the ground with a thud, weak. Voices of the other ninja were suddenly heard coming down the corridor towards the room that they were in. Nadakhan panicked and poofed away, leaving Billy kneeling next to Jay to see if he was okay.

"Jay?" They asked worriedly.

The rest of the team sprinted in, not spotting Jay on the floor.

"We heard a loud crash, is everything okay in her-- Jay!" Kai exclaimed. They all rushed over, Darien standing quite far back.

"What happened?" Nya wondered, placing her hand in Jay's for comfort.

Billy stayed quiet. They didn't know if they could trust the ninja just yet. Jay was definitely someone they could trust but the other ninja were different. They didn't want them to know anything that they weren't supposed to know.

"Come on, you gotta tell us otherwise we can't help him," Lloyd told Billy.

"Nadakhan."

"Nadakhan?" Nya frowned.

"It was Nadakhan."

The room was roughly light. The curtains were blocking most of the sun from entering the room. It was midday, exactly four hours after the incident at the museum. There had been no sign of Nadakhan around. The ninja had been keeping an eye out. Nya was waiting for her boyfriend to wake up inside of his bedroom. She desperately sat there in the soft blue chair beside his bed, worried about his health.

Jay's eyes began to flicker open, catching Nya's attention.

"N-Nya?" He stated softly.

"Jay?" She asked, hoping she wasn't just seeing things.

"W-what happened?" He asked. She quickly wrapped her arms around him as he sat up slowly.

"I don't want you to get hurt," Nya stated sadly, tears in her eyes. "Not again."

"What?" Jay sounded confused.

"Don't you remember what happened?" She frowned.

"Remind me."

"We were at the museum. We found you and that dark figure guy in the--" She began.

"Billy. His name is Billy. Although, I'm pretty sure he's Ronin." Jay cut in.

Nya's eyes widened. "Ronin?"

"I don't know for sure but now that I saw the kind of powers he used yesterday, I'm rethinking my theory." He told her.

"Powers? What powers?" Nya frowned, none of this had been mentioned to her.

"Did Billy not tell you what happened?" Jay asked. Nya shook her head.

Jay got off the bed and stumbled to the door, Nya quickly took his hand and helped him catch his balance.

"You okay?" She asked. Jay nodded and wandered out of the room towards the main room, where everyone was patiently waiting.

They all peered up to see their beloved teammate walking and talking again.

"Jay!" Lloyd smiled.

Billy approached him and whispered, "Are you okay?" Jay nodded his head and gave him a warm smile.

"Oh, so you'll talk to him?" Kai stated, aimed at Billy.

"What happened?" Darien asked from the other side of the room.

Jay perched down on a kitchen stool. "Darien explained to Billy and me--."

"Billy? Who's Billy?" Zane frowned.

"That's his name--" Jay pointed at Billy.

"Please don't call me Billy." He stated.

"Okay, how about..." He thought for a second. "D.F? Stands for Dark Figure."

He nodded slightly, approving of his new name. (Billy is now known as D.F)

Jay continued, "Darien explained to us what he saw last night. I knew exactly who it was by the description so we decided to take a look at the scene where it happened. We didn't really find anything but the statue of Nadakhan was fake. It was the real Nadakhan."

"Nadakhan?!" Nya exclaimed.

"How is that even possible?" Kai asked.

"Ben freed him," Jay replied.

"Freed him?" Nya frowned, staring off into the distance slightly.

"I knew there was something off about that guy. He had us following his little string that whole time, thinking we could just accept his apology and think that everything was perfectly fine but it's not and--" Kai ranted.

"Kai!" Lloyd shouted, catching the fire ninja's attention.

"Sorry, but I can't believe we fell for it again." Kai snarled.

"It's not our fault, okay?" Zane told him. "It's none of our faults."

"How do you know he freed him though?" Lloyd asked Jay.

"I don't," Jay stated. "But D.F does."

"How?" Kai turned to face him, a suspicious look on his face.

"I saw him do it," D.F replied.

"How do we know it wasn't you and you're not just trying to trick us like everyone else? What if Darien is in on it too?!" Kai folded his arms accusingly.

Darien frowned. "I'm completely innocent."

"What if your condition is fake?" Kai pointed at him.

"Kai, that's enough." Lloyd snapped.

Kai looked rather guilty. "Sorry, I just-- it's all getting to me."

"Now that Ben is back in prison, we don't have to worry about him," Zane stated.

"But now we have to worry about Nadakhan," Nya replied. "And you said something about D.F having powers."

Jay nodded. "We fought Nadakhan, well kinda, and D.F just grabbed his sword and like... I dunno.. shapeshifted it into a small rock. It was weird."

The team shifted their heads to look at D.F, who shrugged.

"I didn't know I could do that." He replied.

"Strange..." Zane narrowed his eyes.

"You definitely aren't Ronin." Jay sighed.

"Ronin?!" Kai exclaimed.

"I'm not anybody. I'm just... D.F." He stared blankly.

Kai frowned accusingly at D.F, which nobody else saw.

"Nadakhan brought out the Djinn Blade and struck me with a golden bolt. It was-- painful..." Jay sighed. "He sucked all the power out of me."

"Your lightning?" Zane frowned.

Jay nodded, a tear in his eye. "This is all my fault." He buried his head in his hands.

Nya rubbed his bank gently. "No, it's not. It's none of our faults. Don't blame this on yourself, Jay. It's only going to make you feel worse."

"No, this is all my fault. It's my fault that Ben got let out of prison. It's my fault that Nadakhan's been set free. It's my fault that you guys are in this mess. It's my fault that Cole's dead. It's all my fault." He cried.

"You can't blame yourself for any of it," Lloyd stated.

"Especially Cole's death. That was NOT your fault, so don't think for a second that it was. Cole died because of a bullet." Kai told him.

"That he took so I didn't get hurt," Jay added.

"But it wasn't your fault, okay?" Lloyd replied. Zane nodded in agreement.

"Wow, I missed a lot when I was living back home, didn't I?" Darien spoke out of the blue.

"A lot is an understatement," Kai responded.

"So what do we do now?" Darien asked.

It was silent for a moment until Lloyd stepped forward.

"We wait."


	16. Broken

Jay was stood outside with the D.F. It was around midday and Jay was sick of waiting around for something to happen. Nadakhan was nowhere to be seen but they had to be prepared for anything.

D.F was helping Jay to train. The day before, Jay had lost his powers to the evil djinn and was hoping to get them back soon. He was feeling useless.

"Try attacking me," D.F suggested. Jay nodded and got into a fighting stance. He circled D.F once and threw a kick his way. D.F grabbed his leg with his strong grip and sent Jay flying into the wall. He quickly got back up and tried punching him many times. D.F just remained standing there, no reaction to the punches.

"Oh come on! At least let me win." Jay told him.

"You think the enemy's going to let you win just like that in a real battle? I think not. Keep going." D.F demanded.

Jay grunted and started his routine again. Punches, kicks, punches, some more kicks, etc. Nothing changed.

He sighed. "What if I don't get my powers back?"

"We're not thinking about that right now. First, we're working on your fighting skills." D.F responded.

Jay nodded fiercely and began attacking once again. Still, nothing happened.

"Don't give up, Jay, DON'T GIVE UP!" Jay shouted at himself.

D.F stopped him.

"Just imagine I'm someone you really hate," D.F told him.

Jay grinned and lunged towards D.F, throwing a kick his way. D.F crashed to the floor with a thud.

"Woah! Who did you think I was?! Every villain you've ever faced?!" D.F exclaimed.

Jay shook his head. "I need to speak to Ben."

Jay marched into the police station, spotting Ben at one of the visiting tables. He sat down at the table, making Ben very confused. Kai and D.F stood behind him.

"Jay? What are you doing here?" Ben wondered.

"I know what you did." Jay snarled.

Ben sat forward, a smirk on his face. "Oh yeah? What did I do then?"

"You set Nadakhan free," Jay stated.

"I saw you," D.F spoke out of the blue.

Ben glanced up at him, his eyebrow raised. "So it was you on the island."

Kai stepped forward, his face right up in Ben's.

"Jay lost his powers because of you."

"Whatever Nadakhan did, doesn't concern me. I had nothing to do with it. Sure, I set him free but it was all for a good cause." Ben replied. "I don't care what happens to you. You could all die and I'd stand over your graves laughing. Just like I did over Cole's."

Kai stepped back, shock all over his face. Jay leaned forward.

"You did what?!" Jay shouted.

"That's right. I visited Cole's grave after I set Nadakhan free. And do you know what I said? I said, 'I'm glad you're dead. Another useless person out the way.'" Ben smirked.

Jay felt the anger boil up inside of him. Cole was the only person he truly loved. He slammed his hands down on the table and stood up.

"Ooh, I'm so scared." Ben laughed.

"Don't you dare speak about my family that way. Especially about Cole." Jay warned him.

"I don't care about you or your family anymore, Jay. You're all pathetic." He peered over at Kai. "All of you."

"You're lucky we're not allowed to fight you in prison otherwise you'd have my fist down your throat." Kai snarled.

"You may be holding back but I'm sure not," Jay stated before punching Ben across the face. Everyone around started clapping and cheering. This caught the police guards' attention.

Ben punched Jay back, sending him to the ground. Jay became angrier and angrier with every moment. He was sick to death of Ben and everything he had done. Ben made Jay's life a living hell and he was having none of it. He was done with sitting by and watching Ben take over his life.

Jay began fighting back, kicking and punching Ben. Kai started shouting Jay's name, D.F was trying to hold him back.

Whilst Jay wasn't looking, Ben kicked Jay in the face, causing his lip to start bleeding. Jay screamed and started kicking Ben harder, sending him to the floor. D.F pulled Jay back, holding him tight so that he couldn't continue attacking his enemy.

"You idiot!" Ben shouted at Jay, who was trying to calm down.

"You're the only idiot here, Ben," Kai replied as they dragged Jay out of the prison.

"I'm not finished with you, Ben! I'll be back for you!" Jay called out.

"Glad to hear that," Ben growled.

The door slammed open, Jay stormed through the main room, where Nya, Lloyd, and Zane were sat. They all looked up to see a rather angry Jay.

"What happened to your face? It's bleeding." Nya stated worriedly.

"Ben," Jay shouted before slamming his bedroom door.

"Ben?" Zane frowned.

"Jay wanted to see Ben so we took him. Ben said something about Cole and they got into a fight." Kai explained, exhausted.

"A fight?!" The three exclaimed in unison.

"What did Ben say?" Lloyd wondered.

"You don't wanna know." Kai sighed.

"Let's just say we have to keep those two away from each other for as long as possible," D.F stated.

Kai frowned. "I swear that's the most you've ever said with me around."

"Don't get used to it." D.F snarled.

Kai rolled his eyes and nodded.

Zane stood up and wandered over to Jay's room. He opened the door without knocking just to check that he wasn't doing anything that he wasn't supposed to be doing.

"You okay, Jay? I heard what happened." Zane spotted Jay by his mirror, looking at his cut lip.

"Stupid son of a b***h making comments about Cole. I'm sick of him!" Jay yelled angrily.

Zane approached him. "Let me look at the cut before it gets infected."

Jay turned to face Zane, who began cleaning the cut with a cloth from the bathroom.

"I can't believe I ever believed that he could change. STUPID BEN, STUPID, STUPID!" Jay shouted.

"Stay still or it will hurt more," Zane told him.

"His words hurt more than that cut does. You should've seen what I did to him. I'm surprised they didn't just lock me up there and then." Jay replied.

"Fighting is never the answer," Zane stated.

"If someone was saying horrible, untrue stuff about your brother, what would you do?" Jay wondered.

"Walk off, ignore them, anything but fighting," Zane suggested.

"But you're calmer than me, Zane. I'm not just going to stand there and listen to him talk s**t about my dead brother. It's just not happening." Jay said.

"Your cut's fine," Zane told him, ignoring what Jay had just said. "Just don't get into any more fights."

"Sorry, Zane, I'm just so sick of Ben." Jay sighed.

"To me, that seems like an understatement," Zane replied.

Jay nodded.


	17. Escape Prisoner

Jay wandered into the living room, spotting everyone already sat down, discussing something completely random. It was a brand new day. Jay's cuts were beginning to heal and looked much better than they did before. Nya was the first to spot him.

"Hey, honey." Nya gave him a warm smile from across the room, which Jay returned.

Jay threw himself at the sofa and beside D.F and rested his head on D.F's leg. D.F patted him on the head.

"Why can't life just go smoothly?" Jay groaned.

The room was silent for a moment.

"Jay?" Nya spoke up awkwardly.

Jay raised his head to look at his girlfriend.

"Can we talk?"

Jay nodded and followed her toward her bedroom. He received awkward looks from the rest of the team on the way.

They entered the room, Nya closed the door on them.

"Is everything okay?" Jay asked.

Nya shrugged her shoulders.

Jay frowned. Nya never acted like this unless something was _really_ wrong. He could tell in the past whether she was okay or not but she never spoke to him about it. It bothered him slightly but he told himself that he wasn't going to get in the way this time. Not like he did before.

Nya's eyes filled with tears. Jay couldn't believe it.

"Hey," He said calmly, taking her hands into his, "what's wrong?"

"I'm just scared."

"Scared? Why are you scared?" Jay wondered, his eyebrows creased with worry.

"That something bad is going to happen."

"What do you mean?" Jay asked, worriedly.

"What if what happened last time happens again? What if it gets worse? What if we lose someone else? What if..." Nya sighed. "I lose you...?"

Jay froze. He hadn't thought about it that way.

"I thought I lost you for good last time. It was a miracle you survived. What about this time?" Nya questioned, tears streaming down her face.

Jay felt a lump in his throat. What happened last time had changed his life forever and now... he didn't even realise that it was about to get a whole lot worse. He looked his girlfriend in the eye and wiped away her tears.

"You won't lose me," He replied, "I promise."

Nya gave him a small smile and hugged him tightly. But he felt guilty. He knew he couldn't keep that promise. He wasn't in control of what happened. But he would do his best.

Later that day, the team were sat down in the living room playing a game of uno. Jay had been distracted a few times, such as staring off into space, but nothing out of the ordinary. D.F sat in the corner silently observing the game.

Zane quickly burst into the room, his phone in his hand, an alarmed expression on his face.

"What's up, Zane?" Kai wondered.

"The Police Commissioner just messaged me." He responded.

"What is it this time? Nadakhan's been spotted? I'm done with that guy." Jay groaned.

"Worse. There's been a breakout. A prisoner's escaped Kryptarium. He says someone outside of the prison helped them to get out but he has no idea who it was." Zane explained.

"But who escaped?" Nya asked, concerned.

"Ben."

The team exchanged looks of confusion, anger and stress. Jay stood up angrily and threw his pack of cards across the room, making a loud bang when they smacked against the wall.

"WHY DOES HE ALWAYS HAVE TO GET HIS WAY?!" Jay shouted.

The room became silent.

"First he sets Nadakhan free and now this?! Why does he always feel the need to ruin my life?!" Jay yelled.

"That's Ben. It's who he is." Kai stated.

"What I wanna know is who let him out," Lloyd growled.

"Nadakhan," D.F spoke up out of the blue. Everyone turned to face him.

"You know who it was?" Kai frowned.

He shook his head. "It just makes sense."

"How?" Lloyd wondered.

"Ben let Nadakhan free, so maybe Nadakhan did something in return. He paid him back. Nadakhan set Ben free." D.F explained.

"It makes so much sense," Kai replied.

Jay nodded. "They both have to die."

"What?!" The team exclaimed.

"I think that's a bit extreme, Jay," Zane stated.

"You think it's extreme?!" Jay exclaimed. "We'll see how you like being stabbed, almost dying, and going through depression. Then we can make a decision, oh wait, they would have already destroyed Ninjago."

"Killing is not what we do. We're ninja. We protect. Not kill." Zane reminded him.

"Either way, Ben needs to pay." Jay gritted his teeth.

"What about Nadakhan?" Nya asked.

"I don't care about him anymore. Ben's the one I want." Jay replied.

A loud ding came from Zane's phone, this caught everyone's attention, hoping to be good news about Ben. Zane's face fell as he read the message.

"What is it?" Nya asked, worriedly.

"Ben's been spotted in the city harassing people and commuting vandalism." Zane sighed.

Jay shook his head in disappointment. Kai gasped.

"What do we do now?" Nya wondered.

"We track him down and put him back in prison," Lloyd replied.

The team head towards the door but Lloyd stands in Jay's way, shaking his head.

"You are going to stay here," Lloyd ordered.

"What?! No! It's me that he wants!" Jay shouted.

"And you are the one who's going to cause a civil war in the middle of the city. I don't wanna risk it. You're staying here." Lloyd told him.

Jay groaned and rolled his eyes. "Come on, Lloyd."

"Besides, you don't even have your powers. And the bruises on your hands will only make it worse." Lloyd stated.

"Oh, thanks for pointing that out." Jay huffed.

"I'll make sure he stays here," D.F stated.

Lloyd ran outside to join the rest of the team in hunting down Ben. It shouldn't be that hard due to there being 4 of them. It would have been easier with 6 but it was their unlucky day. To be fair, it had been an unlucky year.

Jay stomped over to the sofa and threw himself at it once again. D.F sighed.

There had always been secrets kept from Jay. Huge ones. For example, Nya's allergy or that Sabrina wasn't his real mother. But there was one that D.F had been keeping from everyone. One that could change everything.

D.F peered over at Jay, who looked exhausted and stressed. He needed some good news. Something that would cheer him up. This wasn't going to be easy for him to say though.

"Jay? I need to tell you something." D.F stated.

Jay sighed. "Should I visit Cole's grave again before I die?"

"What?" D.F frowned.

"I mean, it would be the last time I get to see him, right? Unless I see him in heaven." Jay spoke.

"You won't be seeing Cole in heaven," D.F replied.

Jay turned to him and frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Look, there's something I need to tell you. Something that needs to stay between us." D.F told him.

"Just us? Like you and me?" Jay questioned, sitting up, intrigued.

D.F nodded. "I've been keeping something from you. I shouldn't be telling you this because it can put you in danger. But you deserve to know."

"You're scaring me, D.F, what is it?" Jay sat forward.

D.F took a deep breath.

"Cole. He's alive."


	18. Alive

"What? What did you just say?" Jay's eyes widened in shock.

"Cole's alive."

Jay shook his head and stood up. He paced around the room, bitting the ends of his perfectly trimmed fingernails.

"No, no, no, no, you're lying to me. You have to be."

"I'm not lying, Jay." D.F sighed.

"Cole can't be alive. It's impossible." Jay froze on the spot. "Where is he?"

"I wish I knew."

"Is he okay?"

D.F opened his mouth to say something but Jay cut in.

"How do you even know that he's alive? Have you spoken to him?" Jay gasped. "You've spoken to him!"

"No, I haven't spoken to him. I just... know, okay? Look, if I knew anything, I would tell you. All I know is that he's okay and he wishes he could be here." D.F responded.

"Why can't he be here?" Jay frowned, confused.

"It's too dangerous. If he came back here, he'd be putting yours, his and the team's lives in jeopardy." D.F told him.

"I don't get it. Why is he being hunted down?" Jay sat back down with his legs crossed on the sofa, opposite D.F.

"He tricked Ben into thinking that he was on his side when he was really helping you guys. Cole was the reason why you survived the bullet and why Ben got put in prison." D.F explained. "Ben knows that Cole is alive. It's not you who Ben's after, it's Cole."

"Hold on, how long have you known this?" Jay asked, curious.

"Before I met you." He responded.

"I took you to Cole's grave! You watched me cry but you knew that whole time that Cole was really alive?!" Jay exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't tell you!" D.F shouted back.

Jay froze. A single tear fell down his cheek.

"Cole's really alive?"

"Yes, but no one else can know. I wasn't even supposed to tell you." D.F replied.

Jay smiled. "Cole's actually alive."

"Hey, that's the first time I've seen you smile in ages." D.F pointed out.

"Yeah, well, I just found out my dead brother isn't actually dead. I mean, how else would you react? Throw a tantrum?" Jay joked.

For the next few hours, the two waited for the others to return home with, hopefully, some good news. Jay wasn't getting his hopes up however, he knew how sneaky Ben was. He could practically hide in plain sight and not be spotted. This was why Jay wanted to go.

He thought for a second. Maybe he had been a bit over the top. Sure, Ben was destroying his life, but Lloyd was right. Ninja protect; not kill.

Before any of this happened, Jay would have never imagined killing anyone, even if they were a villain. So much had changed since then. Jay was much stronger and less vulnerable. It's like he had completely lost himself. He barely cracked any jokes anymore. He barely smiled. Things had gone too far. He was determined to stop Ben and Nadakhan, putting Ninjago in peace once again. He just wasn't sure how to do it.

Within three hours, the team returned, looking rather confused and stressed.

Jay looked up at them, his heart pounding.

"Did you find him?" He asked, hopeful.

They all shook their heads. Jay sighed.

"Aren't you angry?" Zane wondered.

"No. I'm just worried about the future of Ninjago, that's all," Jay replied.

"Well, with Wu and Misako on a mission in some other realm, we're going to have to come up with a way to stop both Ben and Nadakhan ourselves," Lloyd stated.

"But how do we stop a Djinn?" Kai asked.

The first time was with tiger widow venom and then it was Jay's powers. But he didn't have his powers this time. They'd have to think of something completely different. Something that would work.

A lightbulb flickered above Jay's head. A smile formed on his face. He jumped up and headed towards the door, determined.

"Where are you going?" Nya questioned.

"I need to speak to my dad!" Jay replied.

"I said you need to stay here." Lloyd reminded him.

"It's important! I think I know how to stop Nadakhan!" Jay exclaimed before running out the door and into the city.

The team exchanged looks of confusion. Seconds ago, Jay was worried about the future of their home, but now he was sprinting to see his father about stopping Nadakhan.

"What's with his sudden mood change?" Kai frowned.

D.F shrugged his shoulders.

Jay ran through the streets, sprinting up the path of Cliff Gordon's mansion. He stopped by the front door to catch his breath before knocking loudly, making sure someone heard.

Within a minute, the door opened, revealing his mother, Libber. Her light blonde hair was up in. a ponytail. Jay smiled at her as she hugged him.

"Hey, I heard what happened with Ben. Is everything okay?" She wondered.

Jay nodded. "I was wondering if dad was in?"

"Of course. He's just through there." She replied, pointing at the entrance to the living room.

"Thanks." He smiled as he entered the room. She closed the door and followed him in.

Cliff peered up from his newspaper and smiled at his son.

"Jay? What a surprise to see you!" He spoke, placing his newspaper down.

"I need to speak to you about something," Jay told him, sitting down opposite him on the sofa.

"Okay, fire away." He sat forward. Libber sat beside him.

Jay took a deep breath. "As you probably heard, Ben and Nadakhan are free."

"What?!" They both exclaimed in unison.

"Okay... so you didn't know. It's a long story, I don't have time to explain." Jay replied. "The first time that Nadakhan was set free, you told me a way to stop him. You told me that only an elemental master of lightning could kill a djinn."

Cliff nodded. "I did, yes."

"But back at Chen's Island, I used my powers on him. They only sent him back to the teapot; they didn't kill him." Jay continued. "Why didn't it work like you said it would?"

Cliff frowned and thought for a second. "I guess your powers weren't strong enough."

"What do you mean they weren't strong enough?" Jay questioned.

"A lightning master's power much be strong enough to kill a djinn. Djinns are very powerful and are hard to destroy. Killing them can make you very weak." Cliff responded.

Jay frowned.

"You haven't had your powers long enough to be able to kill him. They aren't strong enough yet." Cliff stated.

Jay slumped down in the seat.

"Maybe my powers are strong enough," Libber spoke up. "I've had them for much longer than Jay has. What if I tried to kill him?"

"That's a great idea!" Jay exclaimed.

"However, if you do use enough power to kill him, it could kill you," Cliff added.

"It's worth it for the safety of Ninjago, though, right?" Libber asked.

Jay nodded. 


	19. Evolve

Jay wandered through the doors of the Bounty, spotting everyone sitting down, waiting patiently.

"I may have just found our way to destroy Nadakhan for good." Jay smiled, crossing his arms.

"What?" Lloyd frowned.

Libber entered the room with a wide smile on her face. Her blue eyes sparkled in the light.

"Libber!" They all exclaimed happily.

"But how is she going to help us?" Kai wondered.

"There's something I didn't tell you." Jay began. "The only thing that can kill a djinn is an elemental master of lightning. I tried before but it didn't work. My power wasn't strong enough to kill him so it sent him back into the teapot."

"So you think Libber could kill him?" Zane asked.

Jay nodded.

"My power is stronger than Jay's. I have a better chance of killing him." Libber stated.

"It's dangerous though," Jay replied. "If her powers are strong enough, there would be a chance of her losing her life, just like it is with any other master of lightning."

"Then we shouldn't do it," Lloyd responded. "We can't risk losing anyone else like how we lost Cole."

Jay froze for a second and glanced over at D.F. "I know what happened to Cole was... scary. But that doesn't stop us from protecting Ninjago. You said it yourself Lloyd, we're ninja and we're supposed to protect our home. We have to protect the people because right now, everyone is in danger. This is the only way."

Lloyd thought for a second.

"Nadakhan took my powers. Remember?" Jay reminded him.

Lloyd nodded. "Let's do it."

Before the team could move, there a was loud knock at the door. They all fixed their eyes on it. Kai headed towards it.

"Kai," Jay spoke up.

Kai turned to face him. "It's okay. It's probably just the mailman."

Jay moved towards the back of the room near Nya and D.F.

Kai opened the door slowly. He quickly gasped and tried to slam the door closed but the person on the other side put their foot in the way. They swung the door back open and smiled as they wandered in. There was another boy beside him.

"Ben?" Lloyd questioned.

"Ben." Jay shook his head in anger.

D.F held out his arm to stop Jay from attacking him.

"Yes, it's me, Ben, thanks for the introduction but you forgot about my awesome sidekick, Jake." He smirked. "Look, I'm not here to cause trouble. I'm just here to share something with you."

"You should be in Kryptarium," Zane stated, annoyed.

"I know, I know. Well, don't you want to know who helped me to escape?" Ben asked.

The team exchanged looks. Jay's breathing became heavy. Kai's eyes widened.

Ben raised his hand, where he phone tightly sat. "I have a recording to prove it."

Lloyd glances at the rest of the team before turning back to Ben. "Fine."

"You might think this is fake but I can assure that it's not." Ben smiled as he pressed play on his phone. Both Ben and Jake smirked.

_"What are you doing here?" Ben asked._

_"I'm here to find out why you did that to Jay." The familiar male voice spoke._

_"Look, I don't know what I did but I'm so sorry about it," Ben replied._

_"Pathetic." They laughed._

_"No, I'm being serious. I've been corrupted by the teapot of tyrahn. I didn't want to do what I've done. I'm being controlled!" Ben cried._

_"Are you being serious?" They responded, confused._

_"Yes! You have to help me get out of here!" Ben whisper-shouted._

_There was a moment of silence before someone finally spoke up._

_"I'll help you get out tonight. And I'll help you get free of this corruption, okay? The others may not trust you, but I certainly do. You don't deserve this." They replied._

_"Thank you! Thank you so much! It means so much to me, Kai!" Ben exclaimed happily._

Ben paused the recording and put his phone in his pocket. Kai broke eye contact with everyone, sighed, and stared at the floor in front of him. The team gasped and looked at Kai in disgust and confusion. Jay felt the anger boil up inside of him.

"I hid my phone so I could catch you betraying your team," Ben told Kai.

"You're a monster." Kai snarled.

"Not me, you." Ben smiled before leaving the room with Jake and wandering back into the city.

"Come on guys, let's go after him!" Lloyd shouted, sprinting out the door. Nya and Zane followed their leader.

The room was silent. Kai stepped forward, a look of guilt on his face.

"Look, I know what I did was wrong but at the time I thought it was--" Kai began.

"YOU let him out?!" Jay shouted. "Why would you do that?! You know why he's here! You're putting all our lives in danger!"

"I know, I'm sorry, okay?!" Kai shouted back.

"That's why you were so quick to blame Nadakhan. You knew what you did was wrong and was scared to admit it!" Jay yelled. Libber wandered over to her son and held him back.

"Hey, calm down, Kai didn't mean for this to happen, okay?" She spoke to him softly.

Jay ignored her and stepped towards Kai, getting in his face. "You knew what Ben was capable of! You know what his plan is! But you still let him out?! What were you thinking?!"

"He's good at acting, okay?! It wasn't my fault!" Kai shouted back.

"Right, because it's never your fault. You always blame everyone else for your mistakes. You hate taking responsibility for your own actions." Jay rolled his eyes.

"I can't take responsibility if the action wasn't my fault," Kai responded harshly.

"It WAS your fault!" Jay yelled.

"Come on guys, stop fighting! This is what Ben wants." Libber told them.

Jay shook his head in disappointment. "I just hope the others can catch him."

At that moment, the team wandered in.

"We lost him," Zane stated angrily.

"I can't believe this." Lloyd shook his head, refusing to look at Kai.

"Guys, I'm so so sorry, if you were there, you would've believed it too! Plus, we shouldn't even be worrying about what I did right now. We should be worrying about where Nadakhan is." Kai replied.

"As much as I hate to admit it, he's right. We need to find Nadakhan. We need to end it." Jay stated.

"I know where he is," D.F spoke up, catching everyone's attention.

Within a few hours, the team arrived at their destination.

"This is definitely where an evil villain would hideout." Nya pointed out.

It hurt Jay so much to be back here. Chen's Island was the worst place for him to be right now. It was here where Cole lost his life, well at least that's what Jay believed. Jay didn't even have his powers to protect him anymore. Everyone else did. Or whatever sort of powers D.F had.

"Are you sure he's here, D.F?" Lloyd asked.

D.F nodded.

"Let's do this," Libber stated.

The team nodded in unison and headed towards the main doors in a line. It looked like something out of an action movie.

"Looking for me?" A voice spoke behind them, startling them all. They spun around to see exactly who they were looking for.

"Nadakhan." Kai snarled.

"Greetings. I missed you guys. Well, not that guy." Nadakhan peered over at D.F, who rolled his eyes.

Last time they saw each other, D.F had destroyed his sword.

"We didn't miss you," Jay replied.

"So what are you doing here? Come for a nice little visit? Tea and crumpets?" Nadakhan asked sarcastically.

"Better. We've come to stop you." Nya smiled.

"Pfft. You can't defeat me. I'm indestructible." Nadakhan laughed.

"Oh you don't know the secret, do you?" Libber wondered.

"What secret?" Nadakhan frowned.

Libber peered over at her son, who nodded.

She stepped forward with a smirk. "This one." She raised her hands, lightning bolts forming. She shot them at the djinn, long blasts hitting him. He screamed and struggled to reach the Sword of Souls that was in his pocket. He grabbed it and pointed it Libber's way. The team watched and waited. Nadakhan shot bolts at Libber, causing her to fly back into the wall, breaking the blast at the djinn.

"Libber!" The team exclaimed.

"Mom!" Jay shouted.

"You think you can destroy me?!" Nadakhan yelled angrily. "NEVER!"

Libber struggled to get up. Nadakhan shot more bolts at the team, chaining them up against the wall, unable to move, all except Jay and Libber that was. Libber managed to stand up after a few moments, taking a deep breath and lunging towards Nadakhan. He began shooting more bolts, trying to hit Libber with them. She was able to dodge them all, again trying to blast him with her powers. Nadakhan shot her once again with the sword's power. This time, she flew back into the wall with full force.

Jay watched as she laid still, still breathing but heavily. This angered him. His family had already been hurt enough because of him and his actions. He wasn't going to let this happen anymore. He put the pressure on his mother's shoulder to destroy Nadakhan when it was really Jay's job. He had to find some way. But it was pretty much impossible.

Jay's breathing was a sign of him becoming stressed and angry. Libber opened her eyes to see her son staring back at her. By the look in his eyes, she knew exactly what he was going to do. She slowly shook her head, weakly, but enough so that Jay could see. He shook it off.

Jay's fists clenched as he turned to face Nadakhan.

"Aw, poor little bluebell, whatever will you do now?" Nadakhan teased.

That was it. That was the last straw. He was sick of people taking advantage of him. He wasn't weak anymore. He was aware that Wu had always seen him as the weakest ninja. The others were stronger, less vulnerable; not anymore. This was his time to show who he really was and what he was capable of.

"Poor weak, pathetic, little bluebell," Nadakhan smirked. He knew he was causing damage to the 'bluebell'. He also knew what the 'bluebell' was capable of. He, however, wasn't worried, for he had taken his powers.

Jay closed his eyes, trying to keep calm. It wasn't working. He could feel the anger bubbling; growing stronger. The electricity seeped through his veins. Up his arms... through his neck... into his brain...

As his eyes reopened, the team spotted they were no longer the sky blue they knew so well. Instead, there were replaced with bright Pantone blue orbs. Nadakhan looked up to see bolts of blue lightning in his palms. The slightly-evil-looking Jay glared at him. The djinn gulped. He knew exactly what was about to happen.

"Jay?" Nya frowned.

Lloyd peered over at Libber, who was now sat up against the wall holding her arm. "What's happening to him?"

"I don't know." She replied weakly.

Jay raised his arms towards Nadakhan. From the palms of his hands, long blue beams shot out, blasting Nadakhan in the chest. The djinn screamed in pain and fell to the floor, onto his knees, holding where the beam was hitting him. Jay's power became stronger and stronger every second, making him weaker. The team began to feel concerned about their friend.

"What's he doing?!" Kai exclaimed.

"If he keeps going, he could end up dead!" Libber exclaimed.

"Jay! Stop!" They all yelled in unison, trying to catch the master of lightning's attention.

Jay only stepped forward, more beams of electricity shooting from his already tired body. Nadakhan became weaker and weaker, along with Jay himself. Jay's feet lifted off the ground as he was raised into the air but his power, his brown auburn hair blowing vigorously in the wind. He screamed in pain, the life in him being sucked away.

"Why won't he stop?!" D.F asked, worried.

Within a few moments, Nadakhan had fallen to the ground completely. Jay fell to the hard, concrete floor with a thud. He landed on his knees, looking down, his eyes shut tight, pain everywhere in his body. He had never been in this much pain before.

"JAY!" The team yelled.

Nadakhan groaned in pain, all the attention on him.

"W-what have y-you d-d-done?!" He exclaimed, weakly.

"Your time is over now, Nadakhan," Libber told him from afar.

"You've m-made a m-mistake." Nadakhan snarled.

"You were the one who made the mistake. You should have never treated Jay the way that you did. He never deserved that." Nya stuck up for her boyfriend.

Nadakhan didn't reply. Except, when the team glanced at him again, there was no life left in him. Nothing at all.

Nadakhan was dead.

Now that the evil djinn was dead, all his magic was erased, including everything he ever did using the Sword of Souls. The chains around the ninja disappeared. They jumped up and sprinted over to Jay, who was still in the same position as before.

"Jay?" Kai placed a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Lloyd asked.

"Jay, please look at me." Nya became more worried.

He was silent. His breathing was weak but at least it wasn't nonexistent.

"Jay?" D.F frowned.

Jay always spoke no matter the situation they were in. Whether he was angry, freaked out, or incredibly happy, he always had something to say. Except now... he was speechless.

"Jay, please, you're scaring us." Zane's eyebrows creased with worry.

"Jay?" Nya frowned too.

Silence.

Everything had gotten to him. After the fight with Ben, Jay knew something bad was going to happen to him. What if this was the end? What if he had gone too far? He had been warned but he didn't listen, as usual. He thought he knew what was right. He thought he knew what he was doing. It only turned out that he didn't. Instead, he got hurt. He was warned. But he still didn't listen.

"He's not... is he?" Kai deliberately missed out the word 'dead' because he knew it would be upsetting for most people and he already wasn't on good terms with the team.

Zane shook his head. "I can feel his pulse. But it's not strong."

"Are we gonna lose him?" Nya wondered, scared.

"I... honestly.... don't know." Zane sighed.

They waited and waited for minutes on end but still, nothing came from him.

Surely this couldn't be the end. They had come too far; too far to lose someone now.

"Jay?" Nya spoke again, trying to at least get some reaction.

For a second, there was no response from anyone, not even the team, until a familiar voice spoke. The voice they had wanted to hear.

"What happened?"

Breaths of relief passed through the team as they heard Jay's confused yet thankful voice. It's all they ever wanted to hear.

"How did I get my powers back?"

Kai frowned. "I was thinking the same thing, it doesn't make any sense."

"Actually, there have been theories about something but I never thought that it was true," Zane replied.

"Please, feel free to explain," Lloyd replied sarcastically.

"Long ago, when the first elemental masters were discovered, it was said that they were able to regain their powers or gain more. It was called evolving."

"Evolving?" D.F frowned.

"Like Pokémon?" Nya questioned.

"Sort of," Zane replied.

"How does it work?" Lloyd asked.

"An elemental master, whether they lost their power or not, gains their energy when they unlock who they truly are. It's quite similar to unlocking their true potential but more extreme. It is very uncommon and is extremely rare. Only 1 in 100 elemental masters are able to evolve." Zane explained.

Kai raised an eyebrow. "So what happens after they evolve?"

"They receive new powers; stronger powers," Zane responded.

"That's pretty cool!" Nya smiled.

"But it can make them very weak for a while." He added.

Jay raised his head after a moment, looking up at his friends. They saw that his eyes had returned back to normal as he peered over at his mother. His eyes widened at the sight of her in pain. He slowly stood up, holding his chest and wincing.

"Jay, you need to sit back down. You're too hurt." Nya told him.

"No," He replied. "I have to see her."

He moved slowly, a step at a time, towards his mother. He sat down in front of her and watched as she struggled to move towards him slightly.

"Mom? What happened?" He asked, worried about her.

"He threw me into the wall twice, but you don't need to worry about me." She smiled.

"Twice?! Mom, I _have_ to worry about you! You're hurt!" Jay exclaimed.

"No, I'm fine. You on the other hand--" She began.

"Forget about me! Are you okay? And don't even think about lying to me." He told her.

She sighed. "It's just my arm, nothing serious. What about you?"

"My chest is in a lot of pain but it should be fine. We should get you to a hospital to check out your arm, though." He replied.

She nodded and smiled. "You did it."

"Did what?" He frowned.

"You killed him." She pointed at Nadakhan's lifeless body.

Jay peered over at it but he felt no different. "I don't understand how your power wasn't strong enough though."

"I didn't unlock who I truly was. I wasn't doing this because _I_ needed to kill Nadakhan. He affected you the most so you were the one who was stronger. You evolved." Libber explained.

"So does that mean I'm stronger than anyone else on the team?" Jay wondered.

"Unless anyone else has evolved, yes." She replied.

Jay smiled. "Wow. I used to be the weakest but now... I'm the strongest?"

Libber nodded.

Jay quickly shook it off. "We need to get back into the city. Fast."


	20. Change

4 months. That's how long it had been. It felt longer; like a week, or a year maybe? 4 months was unbelievable. Of course, the people of Ninjago couldn't remember the exact date, they didn't care enough to remember. Jay, however, remembered every little second of it. The event played back in his mind about 2-3 times a day. He used to beat himself up over it but now it was normal. He had finally gotten used to it.

Change was something that Jay couldn't get over. He never wanted things to change. When he was younger, his tiny, perky imagination thought things would stay the same forever, you know, like everyone would have fresh food and water, and everyone would remain at peace, and the school bullies would continue laughing with him. Yet, things don't stay the same. You grow older. And when you grow older, you realise things about the world that you didn't know before.

Not everyone has everything they want at their fingertips. They can't just google new parts for the invention they're building, or buy the groceries they need. They can't just grab some money out of their wallet or purse and pop round the shop for a packet of Doritos. Not everyone can get what they want when they want it. That's what some people cannot understand about the world.

Another thing that Jay realised when he grew up, was why the bullies were laughing with him. Instead of joining Jay at his lunch table daily, the jocks would watch from afar. They'd throw food at him, the laughter ringing in the poor boy's ears. Jay never knew what they were doing. He was vulnerable. He just thought they were laughing along with him. He never knew they were making fun of him. He never knew they hated him. He never knew he was lonely.

But now he understood. Now he wasn't lonely. He knew the world wasn't all cupcakes and rainbows. He knew the universe wasn't on his side but he was still willing to get on with his life and make things right. All because of change. If it wasn't for change he wouldn't be able to save the world, he wouldn't have friends, he wouldn't understand the loss of someone close to him.

_Loss._

The only change he couldn't understand at first. Loss was different. Loss wasn't something you could handle easily. It wasn't like opening the refrigerator at 3 am and realising there's no ice cream so you eat something else instead. It definitely isn't like that.

Change... it changed him. Jay was used to change now. So many things had changed over the years. Jay's friends... Jay's family... Jay's life... And now he was ready to make a change too. But this change was good. In fact, it was going to be great. He didn't know if he was ready before but now he did. He was more than ready.

He needed to get rid of Ben. For good.

The team had finally arrived back in Ninjago. The boat ride home was quiet. The only voices heard were Lloyd's, Kai's, and Zane's. No one else had a reason to speak. Jay was still rather shaken up over what had just happened, Libber was in slight pain, D.F barely ever spoke anywhere, and Nya seemed rather upset. Jay was starting to catch on.

The streets weren't that busy. Nobody paid attention to the team of ninja walking down the streets of the city. You'd think at least someone would want an autograph but since Ben had escaped prison, they were a little bit wary of who they spoke to.

Kai, Lloyd, Zane, and Libber wandered on ahead, D.F not that far behind them. Nya was a few feet away from D.F, still looking rather upset. Jay stayed far away from them, wandering behind them.

What if he couldn't do it? He barely managed to defeat Nadakhan. Ben could be stronger. He was capable of anything. But could a human be more deadly than a djinn?

Peering over at his girlfriend, Jay knew exactly what was up with her. He knew what he had done and now he had to make things right. He was just nervous.

Jay sped up a little, walking at the same pace as Nya. He walked beside her, glancing at her a few times. She didn't bother looking up at him. She just focused on what was on the ground in front of her. Nothing.

"So... that was kinda crazy, huh?" Jay giggled nervously. Nya didn't respond. She acted as if he wasn't there.

"At least I got my powers back," Jay told her happily.

Nya glanced over at him, a serious look on her face. "Seriously? You think this is a joke?"

"Of course not," Jay replied, frowning. "Why would I think it's a joke?"

"You can't seem to take anything seriously." Nya shook her head in disappointment.

"Yes, I do! I take my family seriously, I take being a ninja seriously, I take looking after Ninjago seriously." Jay argued.

Nya stayed silent.

"And our relationship."

Nya laughed a little and looked at him angrily. "Our relationship?! You're obviously not taking it seriously."

"I am! I have always taken it seriously!" Jay frowned.

Nya stopped on the spot and turned to face her boyfriend. Jay stopped too as everyone else carried on walking.

"What about the promise you made me?!" Nya snapped. "You promised you wouldn't do anything to get hurt!"

"Look at me! I'm not hurt! I'm fine!" Jay told her.

Nya shouted, "But anything could have happened to you! I was worried to death out there! You could've died, Jay!"

"But I didn't!" Jay argued.

"I don't know what I would have done if I had lost you," Nya peered down at the floor.

Jay took her hand into his hand and looked her in the eyes as she glanced up. "I'm still here, aren't I? I'm safe. _We're_ safe."

Nya snatched her hand away from him. "But you didn't keep your promise!"

"I needed to protect my mum and Ninjago!" Jay exclaimed.

"In a relationship, you're supposed to keep your promises. Now I don't even know if I can trust you." Nya replied, breaking eye contact with him.

Jay began to panic, not knowing what to do. He couldn't lose her, not again.

She sprinted off to catch up with the others. D.F spotted her and turned around to see Jay, glancing around at his surroundings frantically. He headed back towards him, leaving the rest of the team.

"What's wrong?" D.F asked him.

"I can't lose her..." Jay replied, sounding scared.

"You won't lose her. You just have to make it up to her." D.F responded.

Jay nodded, taking a deep breath. "Yeah, I'm sure you're right. I've just gotta give her time. Too much is going on right now, D.F."

"Come on, we gotta catch up with the others." D.F reminded him. Jay took another deep breath and the two began walking at a steady pace.

"So... do you know any more about Cole?" Jay asked, worriedly.

D.F shook his head.

Jay groaned, "I just wanna know where he is. I'm dying to see him. I've missed him so much."

D.F nodded. No matter how many times Jay told him stories about Cole, he knew exactly what he was like. D.F was... odd. He was mysterious. He knew everything about everyone, even what they were feeling. It was like having psychic powers.

"All I want to do is give him a big old brother hug. His hugs were so manly. If that even makes sense... He was always there for me. He was like my true brother all along, even when we had no idea." Jay smiled at the thought of Cole.

"He sounds special to you," D.F spoke out of the blue.

Jay nodded. "He really is. I just hope he appears sometime soon. We could really do with the extra help with defeating Ben. Plus, I have a lot I need to speak to him about. We have to catch up... And... I love him."

At the hospital, the team patiently waited in the consulting room. The doctor that had been in there just moments before had left to speak with another doctor about what Libber had done to her arm. She had given him a strange explanation as to how it occurred, in which he, of course, could not believe.

The ninja thought that the people of Ninjago would be used to hearing strange things such as being struck by a magical sword by a djinn but they had obviously thought wrong. The doctor had seemed a little concerned and decided to speak with someone in charge to help with the situation. For now, the team were waiting for him to return. Jay, however, was dying to get back into action.

Kai glanced over at Jay, who was quickly pacing up and down the room.

"I know you're nervous, Jay, but do you really have to pace? It's kind of annoying." Kai told him, folding his arms and leaning against the cold walls of the room.

Jay stopped dead in his tracks and looked Kai in the eye. "You don't get to tell anyone what to do. Besides, thanks to you, we now have to track Ben down and stop him."

"And you're really stressing about that? He probably won't even be that hard to find." Kai rolled his eyes.

"Then maybe you should try and stop him. You got us in this mess anyway. I shouldn't be the one trying to fix it." Jay responded angrily.

"Me? You were the one who let him out first! You were the one that was being selfish and lied to the police. You set him free and he let Nadakhan out. It was you that got us into this mess." Kai snapped.

Lloyd rolled his eyes at his teammates' behaviour. Ever since Jay found out that Kai was the one who helped Ben escape prison, they hadn't stopped arguing. It was starting to get on his nerves.

"Then maybe if you had been there for me in the first place, I wouldn't have had to lie!" Jay exclaimed.

"Guys, for goodness sake, just shut up!" Lloyd cut in.

Lloyd's sudden outburst caught everyone's attention. He wasn't the sort of person that shouted. He, instead, would try and sort out a situation by talking them through it. This was different for him. For everyone.

"Ever since I joined the team, I realised how much you two have it out for each other. All you ever do is argue and I'm sick of it. Kai, you pick on Jay like he's a piece of dirt on the bottom of your shoe and Jay, you take it and become cranky, setting you both off!" Lloyd explained, an annoyed tone of voice.

Jay was surprised. Not only was Lloyd calling them out on their arguing but no one had ever called him cranky. He never really saw himself as a cranky sort of person. He was usually perky.

"You two arguing is only going to make things worse. It's making the team grumpy and stressed, can't you see?! Yes, I know that Kai made the mistake of trusting Ben, but haven't we all?" Lloyd asked, "Nya, don't you remember how he tricked you into thinking that he wanted to help you, and then he kissed you?"

Nya rolled her eyes, "Jeez, thanks for reminding me."

"And how he pretended he was on our side? He tricked the entire team and we all fell for it. Is there really any point of being angry about it anymore? We're all to blame." Lloyd explained.

Jay thought for a moment before shaking his head, "Lloyd's right, we've gotten too caught up in this Ben business that we've forgotten that we're a team. We're barely even working together anymore." Jay replied, "How about we put all of this in the past and start fresh?"

"I like that idea." Zane smiled.

Nods and smiles were passed around the room as well as a large group hug. After everything the team had been through together, all they had now was each other. All this time, it was like a test to see if they could still work together as a team. But now that they had finally worked things out, they could get things back to normal.

"Also, I know this might start some more arguments but you know that we need all the help that we can get to stop Ben, so I was thinking about introducing another member to the team," Lloyd suggested.

"Like who?" Kai asked, curiously.

Lloyd peered over at D.F who was stood in the corner of the room.

"D.F." Lloyd smiled slightly as he headed over to him, "How do you feel about becoming a member of the ninja team?"

"Me?" D.F questioned.

Lloyd nodded, the rest of the team seemed rather excited, Jay a little weary.

"I don't know," D.F replied.

"Come on, we'd love to have you on the team," Zane added.

"I don't want it to seem like I'm replacing Cole, though." He spoke.

"You won't be replacing him." Jay stepped forward, "He'll always be here with us. No one can ever replace him."

"Are you sure about this?" D.F asked Jay. The master of lightning smiled slightly and nodded. He was still a little unsure as he knew that Cole was still alive and out there somewhere. But he also knew that there would always be a spot on the team for him.

"Then I guess I'm in," D.F responded.

The team cheered and clapped as they surrounded D.F with a hug. He seemed rather uncomfortable.

"I don't hug." He spoke between breaths.

They moved away from him, laughing. At that moment, the doctor came back in with a small sheet of paper. They gathered around the desk, waiting to hear the news about Libber's arm.

"So, no matter how weird the situation may be, I know what is wrong with your arm." He told them.

"What's happened to it?" Jay asked, worriedly.

"Nothing."

"Nothing?!" Everyone exclaimed.

"Well, nothing to her arm anyway. By the look of it, her arm was quickly bent or twisted in an unnatural position and it has occurred an elbow sprain." The doctor explained.

"An elbow sprain?" Libber frowned.

"Basically, you've just sprained your elbow. It should be fine within a few days as long as you drink plenty of water and stay out of trouble. Just take it easy." He replied.

"What? No, I can't take it easy! I have important things to do! I've got to help save Ninjago from evil!" Libber exclaimed.

"Well unless you want to risk permanently damaging your elbow and arm, I suggest you don't take part in strange activities such as stopping villains." He told her.

Libber sunk down in her chair in disappointment. Jay placed a hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay, you've done everything you can do. We're grateful for your help. I'd hate for you to get hurt permanently because of us. You rest up and we'll come to see you once all of this is over, okay?" Jay smiled.

Libber nodded.

"Now, let's get you home. Cliff is probably worried sick." Lloyd suggested.

"And we've got to come up with a plan," Jay muttered.


	21. This is the end pt1

The team made sure that Libber had reached home safely before they headed back to the Bounty. She wished them the best of luck for stopping Ben as they probably wouldn't see each other for a while. Who knows... maybe they'd never see each other again?

Jay needed to think positively. A lot was going to change in the next few days and he was preparing. He knew exactly what he was going to be walking into. It was dangerous, very dangerous, but he had the support of his friends and family to help him get through it.

A lot had been on his mind lately. With the fate of Ninjago relying on his shoulders once again, Cole being alive, and the fact that Nya wasn't even talking to him was really stressing him out. 

It was like the team was falling apart too. Jay was still mad with Kai for helping Ben to escape prison, and he didn't even know how to feel around his girlfriend anymore. But the one thing that was most important at the moment was stopping Ben.

Kai slammed open the door to the Bounty, expecting the villainous Ben to be stood there waiting for them. This would have been Kai's perfect chance to prove that he hated Ben and wasn't on his side. Plus, Kai was desperate to get back into proper action where he could fight and use his powers. Except, when he opened the door and peered into the main room, there was no one there.

Lloyd wandered up behind Kai, frowning. Kai was stood in fighting stance, ready to pounce.

"You okay there, Kai?" Lloyd asked, tapping him on the shoulder.

Kai jumped slightly at Lloyd's cold fingers coming into contact with Kai's warm shoulder. "Yeah, just on edge." 

"I think we all are," Zane stated, striding past Kai. The ice ninja glanced around the room and down the corridor before signalising it was safe to the rest of the team. Jay didn't care if he was there or not. With or without a plan, Jay was going to rip his head off anyway.

D.F was last to enter the room, so he checked behind him and outside before closing the door and locking it securely. He joined the rest of the team around the kitchen counter.

"We need to think of plan to stop Ben," Lloyd told his team, thinking.

"But what could possibly stop him?" Nya wondered, placing her head in her hands.

"Just think about it. Ben isn't the easiest person to get along with. We've gotta be smart about this," Kai replied.

"Nya, you know Ben well, right?" Zane wondered.

She shrugged her shoulders, "I suppose so."

"What are his weaknesses?" Zane asked her.

She thought for a second, "He was always ashamed of making other people feel bad."

"But isn't that what he's doing?" D.F spoke up for the first time. Zane nodded.

"I mean, he feels bad for doing something he shouldn't have done when someone talks to him about it," Nya explained.

"I'm not gonna lie, that's a pretty lame weakness," Kai groaned.

"I doubt he'll be the same anymore. People change over time and it's been a long time since when we were friends," She told her brother.

"Does anyone else have any better ideas?" Lloyd asked, hoping for someone to speak up.

Silence.

"Why don't we just stab him in the head?" Jay suggested after a few minutes.

The team exchanged looks of worry and confusion. Jay peered up at his friends.

"What?" Jay frowned at the looks that were being thrown his direction.

"Don't you think that's a bit..." Lloyd began, trying to think of the right word.

"Agressive?" Kai suggested.

"Violent?" Zane questioned.

"I was going to say over the top but that works too," Lloyd responded.

"Oh come on, he deserves it! Just think of everything that he's done to us! He tried to split us up, kill us off, and make our lives a living hell! Do you really think that stabbing him in the head would be 'over the top'?" Jay asked, beginning to get frustrated.

"A little." Zane stated.

"Yep." Kai nodded.

"Just slightly." Lloyd spoke quietly.

"Mhm." Nya glanced down at her hands.

D.F shrugged his shoulders.

"Seriously? Don't you want to get him back?" Jay frowned, unamused of his friends' attitude.

"Stabbing him will only make us seem as bad as him," Lloyd told his teammate.

"We aren't murderers, Jay," Kai stated.

Jay rolled his eyes.

"Nobody else got any ideas?" Lloyd repeated. There was a mixture of heads shaking and shrugging shoulders.

"I guess we go with talking to him then," Lloyd sighed.

"But who's going to be the one to talk to him?" Zane wondered.

The team exchanged looks, waiting for someone to volunteer. Nobody really wanted to speak to Ben; not after everything that had happened. He was capable of so much, including death. Everyone wanted to stay out of his way.

"I will," someone spoke up.

Everyone's heads turned to Jay, who was stood at the other end of the kitchen counter. 

"I don't mean to be rude or anything, but don't you think that maybe you'll be a bit--" Kai began.

"Violent? Agressive? I can handle myself, you know," Jay responded.

"I'm not saying you can't but... you've been through the most out of all of us. What if he says or does something that sets you off? Something that tips you over the edge? We won't be there to help," Kai explained.

"Yes you will."

"What?" They all replied in unison, terrified looks on their faces.

"I'm not doing it alone. Do you really think leaving me alone with Ben is a good idea? I'd need backup just in case something did happen. We're a team. We stick together," Jay told them.

"But it get crowded?" Nya asked, trying to come up with an excuse not to go.

"You guys aren't seriously scared of him, are you?" Jay frowned.

The team exchanged looks, trying to avoid eye contact with the lightning ninja.

Jay sighed, "This is what he wants. He wants us to be scared of him. He wants that power. We can't let him take control over us, okay? I feel for that too many times already and I'm sure you guys did too."

"Jay's right. We have to do this together," Lloyd told them, ignoring his fear.

"Um, I have a question," D.F folded his arms.

"What is it?" Jay asked.

"Do any of you guys actually know where Ben is?" D.F wondered, "We're discussing this absolutely amazing plan that definitely won't fail yet we don't even know where to find him."

They all became speechless. 

"That's what I thought," D.F nodded his head. 

All of a sudden, a loud rustling noise came from around them. They jumped at the sound, confused expressions on their faces.

"Hello, ninja," A familiar voice spoke loudly.

The team quickly recognised who it was and stood in fighting stance. 

"It's me, Ben, if you couldn't tell," They giggled slightly.

Jay felt the anger boil up inside of him.

"As you could probably tell, I'm not in Ninjago City anymore."

"Where are you?!" Jay shouted angrily.

"Somewhere."

"That isn't helpful!" Kai snapped.

"There's a riddle in the room somewhere, written on a white piece of paper. Solve it, and you've found my hiding spot."

The team exchanged looks and stepped out of fighting stance.

"What?" Zane frowned.

"A riddle?" Nya questioned.

"I'm not very good at riddles," Kai stated, "But I know Lloyd is."

Lloyd shot a look of disgust at his best friend, "Kai! Shush!" 

"Really?" Nya smiled.

"It's like his hidden talent." Kai smirked.

Lloyd sighed. 

"We've got to find it first," Jay told them.

"Let's get searching," Zane suggested.

They split up around the room, checking under chairs, around tables and appliances, behind the TV, yet they still were not able to find the riddle. 

"Ugh, this is impossible!" Kai groaned.

"Don't give up! It's got to be around here somewhere!" Jay told him.

"Want a clue?" Ben spoke through speakers that had been placed around the whole room.

The team raised their heads.

"I have memories, but none of my own, whatever's on my inside is what is shown. If I'm ever different it's because you changed me, I feel like a decoration, here for you to arrange me," Ben stated.

"What?" Nya frowned.

"That's the only clue you're getting." Ben replied.

"I have memories, but none of my own," Kai spoke quietly, "A brain?"

"I don't see any brains around here," D.F stated.

"I have a brain!" Kai folded his arms.

"Like I said, I don't see any brains around here," He repeated. Kai narrowed his eyes at him. 

"I feel like a decoration? What is that supposed to mean?!" Jay asked.

"Maybe it means that it's more of a decoration," Kai suggested, shrugging his shoulders.

"Yes, I think we know that," Jay responded.

Lloyd began to look around at everything in the room that could be seen as a decoration. It was quite a difficult riddle.

"What do you think, Lloyd?" Zane asked.

Lloyd ignored his friend and continued to look around. 

D.F wandered over to a picture frame on the other side of the room and picked it up. "Aw, you guys were so small."

"That picture was taken when we first became a team," Jay smiled at the thought of it. "Those were the good times. It's a shame they're just memories now."

"That's it!" Lloyd exclaimed, "I have memories, but none of my own, whatever's on my inside is what is shown. If I'm ever different it's because you changed me, I feel like a decoration, here for you to arrange me. It's a picture frame!"

Lloyd snatched the frame out of D.F hands. 

"Wow, he really is good at riddles," D.F stated.

Lloyd held up a small piece of white folded up paper that he had taken from the back of the frame. The team crowded around the kitchen counter again.

"What does it say?" Nya asked.

Lloyd unfolded it and began reading it aloud, "I am somewhere high up, a place where most people cannot reach. It is as white as snow and as cold as ice. Find me and you win."

"We win?" Jay frowned, "Win what?"

"Maybe our home?" Nya suggested.

"Or chocolate cake." Kai smiled. D.F nodded in agreement.

"Guys, focus. We have to solve this riddle," Lloyd told them.

"It's not even that hard," D.F replied.

"Alright then, how about you try and solve it?" Lloyd folded his arms.

"Well, first of all, he said somewhere high up where most people cannot reach, it could be somewhere like a mountain. And secondly, he said as white as snow and as cold as ice, maybe he's talking about a snowy mountain," D.F explained.

Kai shook his head, "The whole point of a simile is to make it seem like something else. Something that it's not. If he said as white as snow, he's obviously not actually talking about snow because that would be dumb." 

"I think he has a point," Jay stated out of the blue.

"What?!" Kai exclaimed.

"I mean, it's a perfect place to hide, right? Somewhere far and out of the way," Jay replied.

"We only know one snowy mountain," Lloyd smiled at his teammates.

"The Wailing Alps!" The ninja exclaimed happily.


	22. This is the end pt2

"Thank you all for coming," Jay told the team.

Between leaving the Bounty and arriving at the Wailing Alps, the ninja team decided to collect as many people as they could think of to help them. They would need anyone they could get their hands on. People they could trust. They had rounded up many people, some not being able to help at all, but we grateful for the team they now had. 

First the ninja had travelled to Chen's Noodle House to ask Skylor, who, of course, wouldn't miss a good old fight. She wanted everything to do with this sort of thing. Next, as they were already in the city at the time, they had asked Cliff to help too, excluding Libber as she was injured. Then, of course, they had to ask both Ed and Edna as they had previously been involved in this drama and knew what Ben was capable of. They would be a great asset to the team. Jay, using his amazing acting skills, managed to persuade the Police Commissioner, due to the fact that the P.C owed Jay for locking him up for now particular reason and not even investigating, to let Tox help them out, even though she was a fugitive. Although she didn't know most of what was happening, she was still aware of Ben and his behaviour. And they team needed to ask Darien to help. However, they were taking a huge risk due to his illness. 

So now the ninjas' had a team of 12 that was clearly unbeatable. Ben didn't stand a chance.

"Now, we don't really have a plan, except for we march up there and slap him silly," Jay stated.

The team were now at the very bottom of the snowy mountain, out of sight of anyone so Ben didn't know they were there just yet. They were ninja; they needed to be sneaky.

"You mean kill him," D.F spoke in a deep tone.

Jay pointed at him with a slight smile on his face, "No but I appreciate the contribution."

"So what are we going to do then?" Kai frowned, "I mean, we can't just talk to him. We probably wouldn't even last five seconds talking to him before he stabs someone."

"Great way to put it, Kai," Lloyd rolled his eyes.

"Thanks for the input," Jay sighed, "Look, I know what happened last time didn't exactly go to plan but this time we don't have a plan that can go wrong, right?"

"It's better to have a plan than just to march up there and have no clue what we're doing," Cliff spoke up, his arms folded.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Okay then. Has anyone got any ideas?" Jay asked, hoping someone would speak up. They exchanged looks before D.F cleared his throat.

"We kill him."

"No," Jay confirmed. 

"Then I got nothing," D.F responded.

"Let's just try and go with whatever happens, okay? If something goes wrong, we improvise," Jay told them.

"We aren't in a movie, Jay," Skylor reminded him.

"I know. Although I wish this was a movie," He muttered.

"Just remember we have to stick together. We gotta work as a team," Lloyd stepped forward, taking charge. Jay nodded in agreement.

Cliff stepped forward too, "Let's get this over and done with then,"

"Can I just ask something quickly?" Nya spoke up, a frown upon her face.

"Sure," Jay replied.

Nya looked at her boyfriend, accusingly, "If you invited everyone else to help out, why didn't you invite Sabrina?"

"Well, she isn't really up to date with what has been happening and we haven't really been in contact with--" Jay began to explain.

"I still don't think its fair that you didn't invite her, that's all," Nya wandered off towards the start point of climbing the mountain. Jay sighed and nodded his head. 

"Let's do this guys."

It hadn't been long before the team were already starting to feel the stress of hiking up the snowy mountain in the extreme cold. They hadn't really thought of wearing warmer clothing. They just wanted to get rid of Ben once and for all. Jay wouldn't be surprised if they'd die of hyperthermia before even reaching the top, where they assumed Ben would be. 

Lloyd turned to Jay, who was beside him, "What if we're like fighting Ben and he just so happens to jump through the Blind Man's Eye?" 

Jay gave him a stern look, "Don't even get me started, Lloyd. So much could go wrong and it would be all my fault. I'm the one who wanted to march down here and fight him."

"What if we don't fight him?" Lloyd suggested.

"There's been this part of me that has questioned my choices these past few days. I really badly just want to stab him, get him back for what he did to Cole and I, but the other part of me is telling me not to harm him," Jay explained.

"Surely, you'd want to get him back, right?" Lloyd asked, confused.

"I don't know."

Kai smiled at his sister, who seemed tense.

"What's up with you?" He asked, catching her attention.

"Hmm? Oh, nothing. Just... nothing," She responded with a slight sound of annoyance in her voice.

"Do you really think that Jay could lead the team like this? I mean, sure he's doing a great job and all but... something just seems off... you know?" Kai spoke.

Nya nodded, "Suppose so..."

Nya had only been thinking about how Jay had broken the promise he had made to her. She could only think about how she reacted and she knew she was right and he was wrong. She just knew it.

Suddenly, Cliff, who is ahead, stops and puts his finger in the air to shush everyone that was talking. They exchange looks of confusion as they stop just behind him.

"What's wrong, Cliff?" Zane asked, whispering.

"Do you hear that?" He responded.

They listen for a second.

"Voices."

Approaching them, was the sound of multiple different voices, ones that both Jay and Nya recognised clearly.

"I know exactly who it is," Jay told them.

"Prepare to fight," Nya added.

Without questioning what they were warning, the team got into fighting stance almost instantly.

"What's going to happen, Ed?" Edna whispered to her husband.

"Don't worry, Edna, everything will be okay, I promise. Jay will protect us," Ed responded with a warm smile, reassuring her.

As the voices got louder and louder, the team prepared even more to fight whoever it was that was approaching them. They just hoped it wasn't Ben just yet.

From around the corner, they spotted the range of people talking. They wore red, green and amber suits of armour, helping the team to remember who they were.

"Nadakhan's crew," Tox spoke aloud. She quickly covered her mouth, realising she had spoken too loud. 

The crew were drastically looking around to see who had spoken nearby. 

"Well done, Tox, we could have gotten away without being spotted. Now we're screwed," Kai whisper-shouted.

"Sorry," She whisper-shouted back.

Clancee turned to spot the team. He raised his arm, "Look." The rest of the crew turned to see them, evil smirks on their faces.

"I don't think they remember that they helped us defeat Nadakhan," Nya told Jay, who nodded.

"They didn't help us," Zane frowned.

"Doesn't matter," Jay replied, not taking his eyes off the evil crew of pirates.

They slowly approached, their evil smirks growing wider.

"Well, well, well, who do we have here?" Flintlock asked, " The fruit-coloured ninja and their servants."

"They're gonna regret they ever came," Clancee smiled, turning to Doubloon. 

"Fruit-coloured?!" Kai exclaimed.

D.F looked down at himself, spotting his black clothing, "What fruit is black?"

"Blackberries, blackcurrants, plums, raisins--" Jay began.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," D.F rolled his eyes.

Before anyone could do anything, Skylor stepped forward and side-kicked Flintlock in the face, knocking him to the floor. Everyone went silent for a second, shocked at what just happened. They looked down at Flintlocke.

"Wow, Skylor," Kai stated.

"I am NOT a servant!" She shouted.

Flintlocke growled and stood up in fighting stance in front of Skylor.

The ninja charged at the pirates, creating a mix of fruit-colours and pirate armour colours. It was quite satisfying. Jay, Cliff and Ed threw punches and kicks at Doubloon, who was slick and quick. Skylor and Kai worked together to kick Flintlocke's face in. Edna, Nya and Lloyd beat up Monkey Wretch, which was quite difficult as he was faster and smaller. Everyone else beat up who they could. 

Within five minutes multiple people had been knocked down, including some of the ninja team. Lloyd had a bleeding nose, Darien had fainted (Zane was taking care of him for the moment), and Cliff had hurt his ankle. 

The fight lasted much longer than the ninja thought as there was no weapons involved, something the team should have thought about before leaving the Bounty or the city.

Flintlocke stepped back for a minute, peering at his fallen soldiers. The team were much tougher than he thought. "Pirates! Retreat!" 

Before you could say 'chicken noodle soup' the pirates has ran away, out of sight, leaving the ninja behind. 

Darien was on the floor, holding his head, Zane helping him to come back around. Cliff was also sat on the snowy floor, trying to figure out what was wrong with his ankle.

"Is everyone okay?" Lloyd asked, worried about his team.

"We're all good, I think," Zane gave them all a reassuring smile.

"Stage one completed, I suppose," Nya joked.

"How are we supposed to fight Ben when we can't even fight Nadakhan's crew?" D.F wondered, "A number of our team is injured too." 

"I think we should head back down, at least for now," Lloyd suggested.

"No! We can't! We can't just give up!" Jay exclaimed. 

"What are we supposed to do, Jay?" Darien asked, "I can't continue. And I don't think Cliff can either. Ed and Edna will probably get really weak because of the cold and it gets colder and colder as you reach the top. We're all stressed and tired, Jay, we can't continue."

"We can! I know we can! We're a tough team! We can't let anything hold us back!" He sounded determined.

"Jay, we get that you want to destroy Ben once and for all but come on, look at us," Skylor sighed.

Jay thought for a second.

"Then maybe only some of us should continue," He suggested, "Anyone who wants to continue can continue. If you don't want to continue, head back down the mountain with the injured."

"I think that's a great idea," Nya told them.

"Fine, but if anything bad happens to any of you, come back down, okay? We'll set up camp where we met before," Lloyd replied.

Jay smiled happily. He was finally getting what he wanted.

"So, who wants to continue up the mountain with Jay?" Lloyd asked.

D.F stepped straight forward and stood beside Jay, who gave him a big smile. Everyone exchanged looks for a second before Nya also stepped forward.

"I'll go too," She responded.

"Is that it?" Lloyd questioned, "Okay guys, just remember to stick together and help each other out."

They all nodded and turned to go up the mountain again. They took deep breaths and started trekking up again. 

"Good luck!" 


	23. This is the end pt3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Hi, a quick message from me! I've written a short little side story to go along with this chapter so I would recommend reading that first. You don't have to (obviously) but if you do read it first, there will be a spoiler for later on in this chapter. The story will most definitely be published at the same time as this chapter so if it isn't on there please telI me because something must have gone wrong. It's called Unwanted. It will help explain something in more detail and the TRUE TRUE story of what really happened between Cliff, Libber, and Jay. It really doesn't matter which order you read it in, whether you read it first, in between, after the last chapter, or ever at all, it'll make sense either way. Thanks for reading! Enjoy!!)

It had been twenty minutes and no one had said a single thing. D.F was just normally quiet so nobody was really expecting him to speak. Jay felt a little awkward and Nya couldn't think of what to say. D.F was ahead of everyone, Nya behind. Jay was nervous about coming face to face with Ben again. He hadn't planned out what was going to happen so it was just the case of going with the flow. D.F was sure he was going to kill Ben, but Jay wasn't going to let that happen. Nya, on the other hand, didn't care what happened to her ex. She just didn't want him to bother them anymore.

Nya marched a little faster so that she was right beside Jay. She opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. Jay spotted her and sighed.

"I know what you're going to say," Jay continued to look ahead of him, "I'm terrible at leading the team."

Nya frowned, "That's not what I was going to say. I think you're doing a great job."

Jay looked at her, confused, "Really?"

"Yeah. I was wrong to judge you before. You were doing what you do best. You're a protector, I get that. I'm sorry," She told him, ashamed of her behaviour.

Jay began to laugh. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"What? Why are you laughing?" She questioned.

"You're apologising. You never apologise." He replied.

"I realised I was wrong, okay? Now do you accept my apology or not?" She smiled.

"Of course," He returned the smile.

She looked ahead of her. D.F smiled at their conversation.

"After all this is done, do you maybe... you know... wanna go out or something?" She wondered.

"Like on a date?" Jay frowned.

"Yeah," She responded.

Jay thought for a second.

"I'd love to."

They exchanged smiles and continued heading up the mountain.

"So, D.F, you gonna finally tell us who you are?" Nya wondered with a smirk.

"No," D.F responded blankly.

"Not even a clue?" Jay begged.

Everything went quiet for a minute, well except for the sound of their footsteps in the glistening white snow.

"Nya and I have... some history," D.F told them.

Jay frowned, as did Nya.

Jay thought to himself for a minute and paused.

Nya spotted him and stopped too. D.F did as well.

He gasped, "I KNOW WHO YOU ARE!"

"Really?" D.F crossed his arms.

"Who?" Nya wondered desperately.

"Deep familiar voice, has history with Nya, very quiet, quite horrible especially towards Kai, knows how to fight, secretive, doesn't like to show his face, IT'S OBVIOUS!" Jay exclaimed, "You're--"

Meanwhile, the rest of the team had reached camp back down the bottom and everyone was being treated. Zane was currently speaking to Darien.

"How are you feeling?" The droid asked.

"I'm good, I think. I'll probably have to get a check up due to my Huntington's disease when we get back to Ninjago City but nothing serious," Darien responded.

"I'm glad you're okay. Some took more of a beating that others," Zane stated.

"How are the others anyway?" Darien asked, concerned.

"They're doing great; nothing serious," Zane told him.

"I'd hate for them to get hurt," Darien replied, "But I loved it out there, fighting like a true hero. It was so much fun! And I didn't freeze up either!"

"You did great. Everyone who's helped out with Ben have been heroes. It's difficult. I'm glad you've handled it well, Darien," Zane smiled.

"Thank you, Zane," Darien smiled.

At the top of the mountain, Ben peered down the side to see three very lost looking ninja.

Ben groaned and turned to Jake, "Nadakhan's crew were supposed to stop them!"

Jake shrugged his shoulders, "I guess they're stronger than we thought."

"They aren't that strong! Ugh! I guess it makes sense that the stupid pirates crew are as weak as their leader was. And now look where Nadakhan is! He's dead and buried!" Ben shouted.

"I'm sure we'll still defeat them, Ben," Jake assured him.

"You better be right," Ben snarled.  
  
  


Jay smiled.

"Who is he?!" Nya asked impatiently.

"Ronin!" Jay exclaimed.

"Ronin?" Nya frowned.

"Right?" Jay asked D.F

"Aw dang it, you got me," D.F sighed.

"Wait, really?!" Jay questioned.

D.F nodded.

"But that still doesn't explain the weird elemental power you have," Nya pointed out. Jay nodded.

"Wu came and found me after Cole's death and taught me Spinjitzu and all that jazz," D.F explained.

"Wu didn't tell us," Nya stated. Jay frowned.

"What even is your power?" Jay wondered.

D.F shrugged his shoulders.

"We should probably continue up the mountain," Nya told them.

The three agreed and began walking again.

"Also, by the way, RONIN, we had NO history whatsoever," Nya stated.

"Got it."

Jay froze still, catching both Nya and D.F's attention.

"What?" D.F frowned.

"Why'd you stop?" Nya questioned.

Jay pointed at something ahead of them. They turned their heads to see Dogshank stood there, a katana in her giant hand.

"Any chance of us having that playdate?" Nya questioned.

Dogshank frowned, confused by the water ninja's remark.

Nya turned to Jay with an awkward smile, "Forgot we went back in time."

Jay giggled a little before returning to being serious.

"Get ready to fight guys," Jay warned them.

The three got into fighting stance. Dogshank sprinted towards them, the katana in the air. First to dodge the attack was D.F, next Jay and Nya. This made Dogshank frustrated.

"You won't win this time, ninja!" She snarled.

"Pretty sure we will," Jay replied.

She growled and sprinted even faster at Nya, who was stood by the edge of the cliff. Nya wasn't paying attention, not realising that Dogshank was charging towards her.

"Nya, watch out!" D.F warned her.

It was too late. Dogshank knocked into her, causing her to stumble and loose her balance. She toppled over the side of the cliff.

"NYA!" Jay sprinted towards the edge, hoping there was still chance that she was alive.

She was barely clinging on to a piece of cracked rock.

"Jay, help me up!" She exclaimed.

He grabbed her wrist just as the rock that she was holding onto broke.

"I got you," He tried to pull her up but the rock beneath himself broke off too, causing them both to slip off the edge. Without thinking twice, with his other hand, Jay grabbed another piece of rock, holding them both up.

"Can you get us back up?" She wondered, holding on tight to her boyfriend's hand.

"I can barely hold us up" He replied.

There was a moment of silence.

"What if this is it? What if Ronin doesn't come to save us? What if that rock breaks and we both fall down the cliff? What if we die?" She asked, worried.

He glanced down at her, a look of reassurance, "Then we'd die together. But we have to hope and pray that doesn't happen."

She nodded, smiling at him.

D.F needed to save his friends but he also needed to stop Dogshank. He needed to take one thing at a time and he knew exactly what to do. Dogshank was stood at least a metre away from him. He raised his fists in the air and smashed them on the ground, keeping them there. He closed his eyes tight, hoping it would work. He hadn't tried this trick before.

The whole place began to spin, like Earth was spinning much faster than usual. This caused Dogshank to loose her balance and stumble backwards towards the edge of the cliff. It made her queasy and before she could regain her balance, she tumbled off the edge of the cliff; she fell and fell until D.F could no longer see her.

He raised his hands, smiled, and rushed over to the side of the cliff.

"If this really is the end, Jay, just know that I've always loved you no matter what happened," Nya told him.

"I love you too, Nya," Jay replied, desperately hoping that this wouldn't be the end. They had come too far for this to happen now.

Jay felt the rock beneath his hand become weaker and weaker until it could no longer keep its position in the side of the mountain. He felt his heart break as his hand slipped off the rock. He had let everyone down. He had let Nya down.

Nya held onto his hand tighter than she ever had before; terror filling her body.

This truly was the end.

Before Jay and Nya could finally believe that they were about to die, Jay felt a stronger grip around his wrist. He glanced up to see D.F holding onto him.

"Ronin!" Jay exclaimed happily.

D.F, with all his might, managed to pull the two up to safety and away from the edge of the cliff.

It wasn't the end after all.

Nya quickly hugged Jay as tight as she could. From the moment they had met, she knew it would be him who she'd love. She knew it would be him who would care for her more than anyone ever did.

Ben turned to Jake with a disgusted look. "You told me that this would work! YOU PATHETIC EXCUSE OF A SIDEKICK!"

"Just wait," Jake told him quietly.

The team of three came together for a small group hug. Things were finally looking up for them.

"Forgot about me?" A familiar female voice spoke from behind them.

They jumped slightly and turned to see Dilara, Nadakhan's love interest.

"Oh s**t," Jay stated blankly.

"And I brought a little present," Dilara smirked, raising the Sword of Souls in the air for all to see.

"OH S**T." Jay raised his voice, realising how dangerous this could be.

"It's alright guys, I've got a plan. Get behind me," D.F ordered. The two exchanged a look of confusion and got into fighting stance behind D.F.

Dilara laughed, thinking she could do so much damage.

"You really think you're going to hurt us?" D.F laughed.

Dilara was confused by his remark but marched towards him anyway. She held the sword out to him, ready to attack.

Jay glanced down at D.F's hands, which were filled with brown and grey grainy particles. As soon as Dilara was close enough, he grabbed the sword and looked her dead in the eyes. Fear filled her body as the sword began to change. D.F's eyes began to glow a bright orange. The sword that was previously in Dilara's hand had now turned into a large brown stick. She snatched her hand away from it in confusion. D.F's eyes continued to glow orange as the stick fell to the ground with a thud. Jay and Nya took a few steps back after realising what was happening. Dilara took many steps back, not taking her eyes off the thing she now called a monster. As soon as she felt she was far away as she needed to be, she sprinted off, hoping he wouldn't follow her.

"Ronin, I didn't know you could do that," Nya smiled a little.

D.F eyes began to turn back to normal.

"That was super cool!" Jay exclaimed happily.

D.F's hand reached towards his hood. He grabbed it and pulled it off. He turned around slowly to face the other two. All was finally revealed. His skin was dark, his eyes a deep shade of brown. His jet black hair was neatly brushed.

"Thanks," He smiled.

The two gasped. This was NOT what they were expecting at all.

Jay covered his mouth, his body shaking.

"Cole?!" Nya exclaimed.

"Hey," He smiled again.

"How are you-- what are you-- HOW?!" Nya shouted.

"I will explain everything once this is over, I promise," He replied.

"But the powers--" Nya began.

"I evolved, much like Jay did," He told her.

Nya glanced at her boyfriend, who was still in complete shock.

"You okay?" Nya frowned.

"YOU TOLD ME THAT YOU HADN'T SEEN COLE!" Jay shouted.

"Wait, you knew Cole was alive?!" Nya questioned.

"Kind of..." Jay replied awkwardly.

Nya gave him a look of 'how could you'.

Jay raised his hands innocently, "In my defence, I had no idea it was D.F."

"Well, I'm here now," Cole smiled.

Jay glared at him and instantly threw a jolt of lightning his way, electrocuting him.

"OW! What was that for?!" Cole exclaimed.

"For making me think you were dead," Jay snarled. Jay wandered up to him quickly and wrapped his arms around his brother. Cole smiled and hugged him back.

"I thought you were gone," Jay murmured.

"I'd never leave you, buddy," Cole smiled, "You're my brother. I'll never leave your side."

Jay smiled.

Suddenly, a loud shout was heard from the top of the mountain, startling them all.

"Ready for this?" Jay asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Cole responded.

"I think I'll head back down to the others, will you guys be okay?" Nya asked.

The two nodded.

"We'll be just fine," Cole told her.

She smiled at them, "Good luck guys." She began to head back down the mountain.  
  
  


"You were supposed to stop them! Not make them stronger! And now they've got Cole, which, may I mention, is completely impossible. Got any more tricks up your sleeve or are you just here to make things worse?!" Ben shouted at Jake.

Jake coward in the corner, "I'm sorry, I really tried."

"You're pathetic and a waste of time!" Ben yelled.

"I'm just a kid!" Jake sighed.

"Oi, leave him alone!" Jay shouted from behind Ben.

"Is that the best you could come up with?" Ben frowned.

"He's just a kid, Ben, he doesn't need to be dragged into your stupid little life of crime," Jay told him.

"What do you want?" Ben folded his arms.

"I want my life back. I don't want this anymore. I'm sick of you destroying the lives of so many people here. It's ridiculous," Jay told him sternly.

"The only stupid person around here is you, Jay," Ben snarled.

Cole glanced over at Jake, who was looking rather miserable. He encouraged him to come over. Jake quickly scurried over to the earth ninja, hoping Ben wouldn't hurt him. Jake hid behind Cole, worried.

"Finish him off, Jay," Cole told him.

Jay thought for a second and shook his head.

"No? You aren't going to take the chance to kill me right here and now?" Ben frowned mockingly.

"Nope. I'm a ninja. I protect people, not kill. Besides, I know you don't mean to do all this harm anyway," Jay responded.

"What do you mean?" Ben questioned.

"You aren't a bad person, Ben, I know it and you know it too. You always acted like you cared whether you wanted to or not. There's always gonna be that part of you that doesn't want to hurt anyone," Jay spoke.

"I don't get it. I tried to kill you, Jay, many times," Ben pointed out, confusion filling his mind. He thought that Jay would have taken any chance he got to kill him especially after what happened at Kryptarium.

"You wanted to change after what happened. You really tried to get people to like you again. The team may not have believed you but I sure did. After you tried to kill me, yes, I really wanted to kill you, but when I opened up to you about my self-harming, you cared. I know you did. You were like a big brother to me that day. You were up until you freed Nadakhan. You just wanted people to see that you could change but when you thought they believed you couldn't, you wanted revenge. I get that," Jay explained.

"Jay, what are you doing?" Cole frowned.

"The right thing," Jay responded.

Ben frowned, "Sure, I wanted to change back then, but look at me now. I have everything at my fingertips."

"But do you?" Jay frowned, "Do you have friends that will always be there for you, always care about you, support you?"

Ben reached behind him and placed something in his hand. The lightning ninja glanced down to see the shiny Teapot of Tyrahn.

"Give me one good reason that I shouldn't use this against you right now," Ben gritted his teeth.

Jay wasn't even the slightest bit scared. He believed that he could solve this the right way. No fighting.

"Jay, I can use my powers," Cole told him.

"Ben, I know what it's like to want to hurt people. Your family hurt you. I remember everything you told me that time we shared a cell when Nadakhan had captured us. I don't forget these sorts of things because I care about people. And you can too. I can help you. If you come back to Ninjago City with us, I can help you make friends, I can help you to change, I can help you start up your life properly. Just trust me. I trust you," Jay told him.

"How can you possibly trust me?! I've hurt you so many times, Jay," Ben seemed confused.

"Because I choose to see the best in people. I forgive and forget. And I know that, after a while, the rest of Ninjago will learn to do that too. You just have to trust me, Ben. It will take time and I promise to help you until everything is right," Jay continued.

Ben fell silent, looking down at the Teapot of Tyrahn.

"Be honest with me, do you want to hurt people?" Jay asked.

Ben thought for a second, "No."

"Then come back to Ninjago with us," Jay suggested.

Ben glanced over at the table he had set up behind him and spotted something. He headed over to it and placed the teapot down. He picked up a file and handed it to Jay.

"I was going through some old files whilst I was at the police station. I kept it to show you. I obviously intended to upset you but now... I just thought it might be useful," Ben told him, not looking him in the eyes.

Jay opened it up, Cole peering over his shoulders.

Inside was a police investigation about the attempted murder of a new born baby and their mother. The mother and child had disappeared, along with the case.

Jay scanned it over, a look of horror on his face as he read it. This was about _him_. He was that new born baby.

"Cliff and Libber lied to you again, Jay," Ben pointed out.

Jay closed the file in anger.

"Keep it. It could come in handy," Ben told him.

Jay managed to compose himself and looked back at Ben.

"Will you please come back with us?" Jay pleaded.

Ben thought for a minute before picking up the teapot again. He glanced down at it.

"I'm trouble, Jay. No one will forgive you if you bring me back with you. I've done so much harm. You are such a sweet guy, I can't let that be ruined for you. What I've done.... it's wrong. And you're right," Ben explained. He wandered up to Jay and held out the teapot, "That's why you should have this. I will cause too much harm with it. I don't want to hurt anyone anymore, Jay. I'll leave. Never return."

Jay hesitantly took the teapot from him.

"Thank you for believing in me, Jay," Ben gave him a faint smile before beginning to walk off. He looked back at the three with an apologetic look and wandered off down the mountain, never to be seen again.

Cole patted Jay on the shoulder, "Sorry, buddy, I know you really wanted to make things right."

"I did," He smiled a little, "I managed to fix him and save Ninjago."

"Do you really think he'll stay away?" Cole wondered.

"I think so," Jay stated.

"Should we head back down to the others?" Cole asked.

Jay nodded.   
  
  


At the bottom of the mountain, everyone was sat around a campfire, getting ready for their big victory. At least that was what they were hoping to have. They had had so much fun together. It was a shame it was coming to an end.

Nya quickly raised from her seat and pointed out to the distance, catching everyone's attention. Everyone looked at where she was pointing. They all got up, smiles on their faces.

Jay, Cole and Jake were approaching, happiness written all over their faces.

The team rushed towards them, excitement filling them all.

"Cole!" Kai exclaimed happily.

"We missed you so much!" Lloyd smiled, hugging his friend.

"I miss you guys so much too. It killed me to not tell you," Cole returned the smile.

"Jay, we're so glad that you're safe," Edna gave her son a big kiss on the cheek.

"Mom!" Jay whined jokingly.

"Where's Ben?" Skylor wondered.

"Let's just say he won't be bothering us anymore," Jay told them all.

Darien clapped in victory, "I'm so glad that I could be a part of this."

"Me too," Tox agreed.

"It was a pleasure having you guys," Zane responded.

"Victory party at my place?" Cliff suggested.

Everyone cheered and clapped, ready to start their lives again.

Jay stepped forward, the file held up high. "But first..."

"What's that?" Kai wondered.

Jay wandered up to Cliff, a stern expression on his face. He held the file where he could see it.

"I want to know the truth."  
  


|The End|


End file.
